LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Shelf 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



SERMONS 



ON THE 



WAY OF SALVATION. 



BY 



rev. Charles G. Finney, 

LATE PRESIDENT OF OBERLIN COLLEGE. 










NOV / J) 



OBERLIN, OHIO. 
EDWARD J. GOODRICH, 



±r±rr 



THE LIBRARY 
OF CON0R&SS 

WASHINGTON 



A 



1 



^ 



^ 



COPYRIGHT, 1891, BY 

EDWARD J. GOODRICH. 



PREFACE. 

THE continued interest manifested by the Chris- 
tian public in the sermons of President Finney, which 
were first published now nearly sixty years ago, bears 
testimony to the vigor of his reasoning and to the 
grace and unction of his expression. During this cen- 
tury at least, he has had no equal as an interpreter and 
preacher of the gospel. The audiences which he 
moved and guided to the acceptance of the truth, 
always included many persons of the highest intel- 
lectual order. So clear was his conception of the truth, 
that he was unable to utter an obscure sentence. So 
profound was his conviction of the justice and love of 
God, and of the unreasonableness and folly of sin, that 
he could not but speak with inspiring eloquence when 
beseeching men to be reconciled to their Lord and 
Saviour. 

Many of the sermons collected in this volume we 
remember to have heard from the preacher's own lips 
while a student in Oberlin nearly forty years ago. It 
is, of course, impossible through the medium of the 
printed page to reproduce all the marvellous power 
attending the sermons in their original delivery. But 
Professor Cowles was a sympathetic reporter, and had 
had long practice in writing out the discourses of the 
great preacher he so much admired, and thus was able 
to present a remarkably correct report. As an addi- 



VI PREFACE. 

tional guarantee of faithful representation, the reports 
were read by Professor Cowles to President Finney 
before their original publication in the Oberlin Evange- 
list, and so have upon them the stamp of the preach- 
er's own approval. 

The sermons of the present volume were selected 
by Professor Cowles and arranged for publication before 
his death, and they are now given to the public under 
the conviction that they present with unrivalled clear- 
ness phases of truth in need of special emphasis at the 
present time, and that they have permanent value both 
as models for the preacher and as sound philosophi- 
cal discussions of many of the central themes of the 
gospel. President l^inney had the rare ability of so 
interpreting the divine plan of salvation as at once to 
instruct the theologian and to bring its moving thoughts 
to bear with all their power upon the hearts of the 
common people. We rejoice in the larger circulation 
which the present form of publication will give to this 
selection of sermons. Through the columns of the 
Oberlin Evangelist they reached a highly appreciative 
circle of readers in their day. It augurs well that in 
their present form they are likely to reach many thou- 
sand more, and to have a larger share in moulding the 
theological thought of the present generation. 

G. FREDERICK WRIGHT. 
Oberlin, Ohio, September, 189 1. 



CONTENTS. 



I. The Rule by which the Guilt of Sin is Esti- 
mated, .... - - i 

II. The Self-Hardening Sinner's Doom, - - 27 

III. The Loss When a Soul is Lost, - - - 48 

IV. God's Anger Against the Wicked, - - - 71 
V. Men Invited to Reason With God, - - 93 

VI. Conscience and the Bible in Harmony, - - 112 
VII. Salvation Difficult to the Christian, Impossi- 
ble to the Sinner, - - - - - 130 
VIII. The Salvation of Sinners Impossible, - - 147 

IX. Any One Form of Sin Persisted in is Fatal to 

the Soul, ...... 165 

X. The Wrath of God Against Those Who With- 
stand the Truth, - - - - 187 
XI. The Doom of Those Who Neglect the Great 

Salvation, ...... 203 

XII. All Things for Good to Those That Love God, 217 

XIII. All Things Conspire for Evil to the Sinner, 234 

XIV. God Has no Pleasure in the Sinner's Death, - 254 
XV. The Rich Man and Lazarus, - - - 279 

XVI. The Wants of Man and Their Supply, - - 295 

XVII. On Believing with the Heart, - - - 313 

XVIII. On Being Holy, - - - - - 332 

XIX. On Self-Denial, ..... 345 

XX. On Following Christ, .... 358 

XXI. Conditions of Prevailing Prayer, - - 372 

XXII. On Approving Heart — Confidence in Prayer, - 391 

XXIII. On Praying Always, .... 413 

XXIV. On Prayer for the Holy Spirit, - - - 429 

XXV. Afflictions of the Righteous and the Wicked 

Contrasted, ..... 447 



SERMONS. 



I. 

THE RULE BY WHICH THE GUILT OF SIN 
IS ESTIMATED. 

" And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now com- 
mandeth all men every where to repent : because he hath appointed a 
day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man 
whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all 
men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." — Acts xvii. 30, 31. 

THE text declares that God will judge the world in 
righteousness. I shall not at this time dwell on 
the fact that God will judge the world, nor upon the 
fact that this judgment will be in righteousness; but 
shall endeavor to ascertain what is the rule by which 
our guilt is to be measured; or in other words what is 
implied in judging the world in righteousness. What 
is the righteous rule by which guilt is measured, and 
consequently the just punishment of the sinner allotted? 
In pursuing this subject, I shall deem it important: 

I. TO STATE BRIEFLY WHAT THE CONDITIONS OF 
MORAL OBLIGATION ARE; and 

II. Come directly to the main point, the rule 

BY WHICH GUILT IS TO BE MEASURED. 

/. State briefly what the conditions of moral obliga- 
tion are. 

1. Moral obligation has respect to the ultimate in- 



2 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

tention of the mind. The end had in view, and not 
the mere external act, must evermore be that to which 
law pertains and of which guilt is predicated. Surely 
guilt cannot be predicated of the outward act merely, 
apart from intention: for if the outward act be not ac- 
cording to the intention, as in the case of accidents, we 
never think of imputing guilt; and if it be according 
to the intention, we always, when we act rationally, 
ascribe the guilt to the intention, and not to the mere 
hand or tongue, which became the mind's organ in its 
wickedness. 

This is a principle which everybody admits when 
he understands it. The thing itself lies among the 
intuitive affirmations of every child's mind. No sooner 
has a child the first idea of right and wrong, but he 
will excuse himself from blame by saying that he did 
not mean to do it, and he knows full well, that if this 
excuse be true, it is valid and good as an excuse; and 
moreover he knows that you and everybody else both 
know this and must admit it. This sentiment thus per- 
vades the minds of all men and none can intelligently 
deny it. 

2. Having premised so much, I am prepared to re- 
mark that the first condition of moral obligation is the 
possession of the requisite powers of moral agency. 
There must be intelligence enough to understand in 
some measure the value of the end to be chosen or 
not chosen, else there can be no responsible choice. 
There must be some degree of sensibility to good 
soup-ht. or evil shunned; — else there never would be 
any action put forth, or effort made; and there must 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. 3 

also be the power of choice between possible courses 
to be chosen. These are all most manifestly requisites 
for moral choice, or in other words for responsible 
moral action and obligation. 

3. It is essential to moral obligation that the mind 
should know in some measure, what it ought to intend. 

It must have some apprehension of the value of the 
end to be chosen, else there can be no responsible 
choice of that end, or responsible neglect to choose it. 
Everybody must see this, for if the individual when 
asked, why he did not choose a given end, could an- 
swer truly, " I did not know that the end was valuable 
and worthy of choice;" all men would deem this a 
valid acquittal from moral delinquency. 

4. Supposing the individual to know what he ought 
to choose; then his obligation to choose it does not 
grow out of the fact of God's requiring it, but lies in 
the value of the end to be chosen. I have said that 
he must perceive the end to be chosen, and in some 
measure understand its value. This is plain. And 
this apprehension of its value is that which binds him 
to choose it. In other words, the moral law which en- 
joins love, or good willing must be subjectively present 
to his mind. His mind must have a perception of 
good which he can will to others, in connection with 
which a sense of obligation to will it springs up, and 
this constitutes moral obligation. 

These are substantially the conditions of moral obli- 
gation; the requisite mental powers for moral action; 
and a knowledge of the intrinsic value of the good of 
being. 



4 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

Before leaving this topie, let me remark that very 
probably, no two creatures in the moral universe have 
precisely the same degree of intelligence respecting the 
value of the end they ought to choose; yet shall moral 
obligation rest upon all these diverse degrees of knowl- 
edge, proportioned evermore in degree to the measure 
of this knowledge which any mind possesses. God 
alone has infinite and changeless knowledge on this 
point. 

//. I come now to speak of the rule by which the 
guilt of refusing to will or intend according to the law 
of God must be measured. 

1 . Negatively, guilt is not to be measured by the 
fact that God who commands is an infinite being. The 
measure of guilt has sometimes been made to turn on 
this fact, and has been accounted infinite because God 
whose commands it violates is infinite. But this doc- 
trine is inadmissible. It lies fatally open to this ob- 
jection, that by it all sin is made to be equally guilty, 
because all sin is equally committed against an infinite 
being. But both the Bible and every man's intuitive 
reason proclaim that all sins are not equally guilty. 
Hence the measure or rule of their guilt cannot be in 
the fact of their commission against an infinite being. 

2. Guilt cannot be measured by the fact that God's 
authority against which sin is committed is infinite. 
Authority is the right to command. No one denies 
that this in God is infinite. But this fact cannot con- 
stitute the measure of guilt, for precisely the reason 
just given — namely, that then all sin becomes equally 
guilty, being all committed against infinite authority; 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. $ 

which conclusion is false, and therefore the premises 
are also. 

3. The degree of guilt cannot be estimated by the 
fact that all sin is committed against an infinitely holy 
and good being; for reasons of the same kind as just 
given. 

4. Nor from the value of the law of which sin is a 
transgression; for though all admit that the law is in- 
finitely good and valuable, yet since it is always equally 
so, all sin by this rule must be equally guilty — a con- 
clusion which being false, vitiates and sets aside our 
premises. 

5. The rule cannot lie in the value of that which 
the law requires us to will, intend or choose, considered 
apart 'from the mind's perception of the value; for the 
intrinsic value of this end is always the same, so that 
this rule too, as the preceding, would bring us to the 
conclusion that all sins are equally guilty. 

6. Guilt is not to be measured by the tendency of 
sin. All sin tends to one result — unmingled evil. No 
created being can tell what sins have the most direct 
and powerful tendency to produce evil; since all sin 
tends to produce evil and only evil continually. Every 
modification of sin may for aught we know tend with 
equal directness to the same result — evil, and nothing 
but evil. 

7. Guilt cannot be measured by the design or ulti- 
mate intention of the sinner. It does indeed lie in his 
design and in nothing else; yet you cannot determine 
the amount of it by merely knowing his design; for 
this design is always substantially the same thing — it is 



6 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

always self-gratification in some form, and nothing else. 
We need to get this idea thoroughly into our minds. 
The general design of the sinner being always self- 
gratification, and it making very little if any difference 
in his guilt what form of self-gratification he chooses, 
it follows that the measure of guilt cannot be sought 
here, and must therefore be sought elsewhere. 

8. But it is time I should state, positively, that 
guilt is always to be estimated by the degree of light 
under which the sinful intention is formed, or in other 
words, it is to be measured by the mind's knowledge 
or perception of the value of that end which the law 
requires to be chosen. This end is the highest well- 
being of God and of the universe. This is of infinite 
value; and in some sense every moral agent must know 
it to be of infinite value, and yet individuals may differ 
indefinitely in respect to the degree of clearness with 
which this great end is apprehended by the mind. 
Choosing this end — the highest well-being of God and 
of the universe always implies the rejection of self- 
interest as an end; and on the other hand, the choice 
of self-interest or self-gratification as an end always 
and necessarily implies the rejection of the highest 
well-being of God and of the universe as an end. The 
choice of either implies the rejection of its opposite. 

Now the sinfulness of a selfish choice consists not 
merely in its choice of good to self, but in its im- 
plying a rejection of the highest well-being of God and 
of the universe as a supreme and ultimate end. If sel- 
fishness did not imply the apprehension and rejection of 
other and higher interests as an end, it would not imply 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. 7 

any guilt at all. The value of the interests rejected is that 
in which the guilt consists. In other words the guilt 
consists in rejecting the infinitely valuable well-being of 
God and of the universe for the sake of selfish gratifi- 
cation. 

Now it is plain that the amount of guilt is as the 
mind's apprehension of the value of the interests re- 
jected. In some sense as I have said, every moral 
agent has and must of necessity have the idea that the 
interests of God and of the universe are of infinite 
value. He has this idea developed so clearly that every 
sin he commits deserves endless punishment, and yet 
the degree of his guilt may be greatly enhanced by 
additional light, so that he may deserve punishment 
not only endless in duration but indefinitely great in 
degree. Nor is there any contradiction in this. If the 
sinner cannot affirm that there is any limit to the value 
of the interests he refuses to will and to pursue, he 
cannot of course affirm that there is any limit to his 
guilt and desert of punishment. This is true and must 
be true of every sin and of every sinner; and yet as 
light increases and the mind gains a clearer apprehen- 
sion of the infinite value of the highest well-being of 
God and of the universe, just in that proportion does 
the guilt of sin increase. Hence the measure of knowl- 
edge possessed of duty and its motives, is always and 
unalterably the rule by which guilt is to be measured. 

The proof of this is twofold. 

i . The Scriptures assume and affirm it. 

The text affords a plain instance. The apostle al- 
ludes to those past ages when the heathen nations had 



8 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

no written revelation of God, and remarks that "those 
times of ignorance God winked at." This does not 
mean that God connived at their sin because of their 
darkness, but does mean that he passed over it with 
comparatively slight notice, regarding it as sin of far 
less aggravation than those which men would now com- 
mit if they turned away when God commanded them 
all to repent. True, sin is never absolutely a light 
thing; but comparatively, some sins incur small guilt 
when compared with the great guilt of other sins. 
This is implied in our text. 

I next cite James iv. 17. " To him that knoweth to 
do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." This plainly 
implies that knowledge is indispensable to moral obli- 
gation; and even more than this is implied; namely, 
that the guilt of any sinner is always equal to the 
amount of his knowledge on the subject. It always 
corresponds to the mind's perception of the value of 
the end which should have been chosen, but is rejected. 
If a man knows he ought in any given case to do good, 
and yet does not do it, to him this is sin — the sin 
plainly lying in the fact of not doing good when he 
knew he could do it, and being measured as to its guilt 
by the degree of that knowledge. 

John ix. 41 — "Jesus said unto them, if ye were blind, 
ye should have no sin: but now ye say, we see; there- 
fore your sin remaineth." Here Christ asserts that 
men without knowledge would be without sin; and that 
men who have knowledge, and sin notwithstanding, are 
held guilty. This plainly affirms that the presence of 
light or knowledge is requisite to the existence of sin, 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. 9 

and obviously implies that the amount of knowledge 
possessed is the measure of the guilt of sin. 

It is remarkable that the Bible everywhere assumes 
first truths. It does not stop to prove them, or even 
assert them — it always assumes their truth, and seems 
to assume that every one knows and will admit them. 
As I have been recently writing on moral government 
and studying the Bible as to its teachings on this class 
of subjects, I have been often struck with this remark- 
able fact. 

John xv. 22, 24 — "If I had not come and spoken 
unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have 
no cloak for their sins. He that hateth me, hateth my 
Father also. If I had not done among them the works 
which none other man did, they had not had sin: but 
now have they both seen and hated both me and my 
Father." Christ holds the same doctrine here as in the 
last passage cited — light essential to constitute sin, 
and the degree of light, constituting the measure of its 
aggravation. Let it be observed, however, that Christ 
probably did not mean to affirm in the absolute sense that 
if he had not come, the Jews would have had no sin; for 
they would have had some light if He had not come. 
He speaks as I suppose comparatively. Their sin if 
He had not come would have been so much less as to 
justify his strong language. 

Luke xii. 47, 48 — "And that servant which knew 
his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did 
according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 
But he that knew not and did commit things worthy 
of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto 



10 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much re- 
quired; and to whom men have committed much, of 
him they will ask the more." 

Here we have the doctrine laid down and the truth 
assumed that men shall be punished according to 
knowledge. To whom much light is given, of him 
shall much obedience be required. This is precisely 
the principle that God requires of men according to 
the light they have. 

i Tim. i. 13 — -"Who was before a blasphemer, and 
a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, be- 
cause I did it ignorantly in unbelief." Paul had done 
things intrinsically as bad as well they could be; yet 
his guilt was far less because he did them under the 
darkness of unbelief; hence he obtained mercy, when 
otherwise, he might not. The plain assumption is 
that his ignorance abated from the malignity of his 
sin, and favored his obtaining mercy. 

In another passage (Acts xxvi. 9), Paul says of him- 
self — "I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do 
many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Naza- 
reth." This had every thing to do with the degree of 
his guilt in rejecting the Messiah, and also with his 
obtaining pardon. 

Luke xxiii. 34 — "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive 
them; for they know not what they do." This passage 
presents to us the suffering Jesus, surrounded with 
Roman soldiers and malicious scribes and priests, yet 
pouring out his prayer for them, and making the only 
plea in their behalf which could be made — "for they 
know not what they do." This does not imply that 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. I I 

they had no guilt, for if that were true they would not 
have needed forgiveness; but it did imply that their 
guilt was greatly palliated by their ignorance. If they 
had known him to be the Messiah, their guilt might 
have been unpardonable. 

Matt. xi. 20-24 — " Then began He to upbraid the 
cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, 
because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! 
woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works 
which were done in you had been done in Tyre and 
Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth 
and ashes. But I say unto you it shall be more toler- 
able for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than 
for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto 
heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty 
works which have been done in thee, had been done in 
Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I 
say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the 
land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for thee." 
But why does Christ thus upbraid these cities ? Why 
denounce so fearml a woe on Chorazin and Capernaum? 
Because most of his mighty works had been wrought 
there. His oft-repeated miracles which proved him the 
Messiah had been wrought before their eyes. Among 
them he had taught daily, and in their synagogues 
every Sabbath day. They had great light; hence their 
great — their unsurpassed guilt. Not even the men of 
Sodom had guilt to compare with theirs. The city 
most exalted, even as it were to heaven, must be brought 
down to the deepest hell. Guilt and punishment, ever- 
more, according to light enjoyed but resisted. 



12 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

Luke xi. 47-51 — "Woe unto you ! for ye build the 
sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed 
them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds 
of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye 
build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom 
of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and 
some of them they shall slay and persecute: that the 
blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the 
foundation of the world, may be required of this gen- 
eration. From the blood of Abel, unto the blood of 
Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the 
temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of 
this generation." Now here, I ask, on what principle 
was it that all the blood of martyred prophets ever 
since the world began was required of that generation ? 
Because they deserved it; for God does no such thing 
as injustice. It never was known that He punished 
any people or any individual beyond their desert. 

But why and how did they deserve this fearful and 
augmented visitation of the wrath of God for past cen- 
turies of persecution ? 

The answer is twofold: they sinned against accumu- 
lated light: and they virtually endorsed all the perse- 
cuting deeds of their fathers, and concurred most 
heartily in their guilt. They had all the oracles of God. 
The whole history of the nation lay in their hands. 
They knew the blameless and holy character of those 
prophets who had been martyred; they could read the 
guilt of their persecutors and murderers. Yet under 
all this light, themselves go straight on and perpetrate 
deeds of the same sort, but of far deeper malignity. 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. 1 3 

Again, in doing this they virtually endorse all that 
their fathers did. Their conduct towards the Man of 
Nazareth, put into words would read thus — "The holy 
men whom God sent to teach and rebuke our fathers, 
they maliciously traduced and put to death; they did 
right, and we will do the same thing towards Christ." 
Now it was not possible for them to give a more de- 
cided sanction to the bloody deeds of their fathers. 
They underwrote for every crime — assume upon their 
own consciences all the guilt of their fathers. In in- 
tention , they do those deeds over again. They say, "if 
we had lived then we should have done and sanctioned 
all they did." 

On the same principle the accumulated guilt of all 
the blood and miseries of Slavery since the world be- 
gan rests on this nation now. The guilt involved in 
every pang, every tear, every blood-drop forced out by 
the knotted scourge — all lies at the door of this gener- 
ation. Why? Because the history of all the past is 
before the pro-slavery men of this generation, and they 
endorse the whole by persisting in the practice of the 
same system and of the same wrongs. No generation 
before us ever had the light on the evils and the wrongs 
of Slavery that we have; hence our guilt exceeds that 
of any former generation of slave-holders; and, more- 
over, knowing all the cruel wrongs and miseries of the 
system from the history of the past, every persisting 
slave-holder endorses all the crimes and assumes all the 
guilt involved in the system and evolved out of it since 
the world began. 

Rom. vii. 13 — "Was then that which is good made 



14 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might 
appear sin, worketh death in me by that which is good, 
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding 
sinful." The last clause of this verse brings out clearly 
the principle that under the light which the command- 
ment, that is, the law, affords, sin becomes exceedingly 
guilty. This is the very principle, which, we have 
seen, is so clearly taught and implied in numerous pas- 
sages of Scripture. 

The diligent, reader of the Bible knows that these 
are only a part of the texts which teach the same doc- 
trine: we need not adduce any more. 

2. I remark that this is the rule and the only just 
rule by which the guilt of sin can be measured. If I 
had time to turn the subject over and over- — time to 
take up every other conceivable supposition, I could 
show that none of them can possibly be true. No 
supposition can abide a close examination except this, 
that the rule or measure of guilt is the mind's knowl- 
edge pertaining to the value of the end to be chosen. 

There can be no other criterion by which guilt can 
be measured. It is the value of the end chosen which 
constitutes sin guilty, and the mind's estimate of that 
value measures its own guilt. This is true according 
to the Bible as we have seen; and every man needs 
only consult his own consciousness faithfully and he 
will see that it is equally affirmed by the mind's own 
intuition to be right. 

A few inferences may be drawn from our doctrine. 

I. Guilt is not to be measured by the nature of the 
intention; for sinful intention is always a unit — always 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. I 5 

one and the same thing — being nothing more nor less 
than self-gratification. 

2. Nor can it be measured by the particular type of 
self-gratification which the mind may prefer. No mat- 
ter which of his numerous appetites or propensities 
man may choose to indulge — whether for food, for 
strong drink — for power, pleasure, or gain — it is the 
same thing in the end — self-gratification, and nothing 
else. For the sake of this he sacrifices every other 
conflicting interest, and herein lies his guilt. Yet since 
he tramples on the greater good of others with equal 
recklessness, whatever type of self-gratification he pre- 
fers, it is plain that we cannot find in this type any 
true measure of his guilt. 

3. Nor again is the guilt to be decided by the 
amount of evil which the sin may bring into the uni- 
verse. An agent not enlightened may introduce great 
evil and yet no guilt attach to this agent. This is true 
of evil often done by brute animals. It is true of the 
mischiefs effected by alcohol. In fact it matters not 
how much or how little evil may result from the mis- 
deeds of a moral agent, you cannot determine the 
amount of his guilt from this circumstance. God may 
overrule the greatest sin so that but little evil shall re- 
sult from it, or he may leave its tendencies uncounter- 
acted so that great evils shall result from the least sin. 
Who can tell how much or how little overruling agency 
may interpose between any sin great or small and its 
legitimate results? 

Satan sinned in betraying Judas, and Judas sinned in 
betraying Christ. Yet God so overruled these sins 



1 6 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

that most blessed results to the universe followed from 
Christ's betrayal and consequent death. Shall the sins 
of Satan and Judas be estimated by the evils actually 
resulting from them ? If it should appear that the good 
immensely overbalanced the evil, does their sin thereby 
become holiness — meritorious holiness? Is their guilt 
at all the less for God's wisdom and love, in overruling 
it for good? 

It is not therefore the amount of resulting good or 
evil which determines the amount of guilt, but is the 
degree of light enjoyed, under which the sin is com- 
mitted. 

4. Nor again can guilt be measured by the com- 
mon opinions of men. Men associated in society are 
wont to form among themselves a sort of public senti- 
ment which becomes a standard for estimating guilt; 
yet how often is it erroneous? Christ warns us against 
adopting this standard, and also against ever judging 
according to the outward appearance. Who does not 
know that the common opinions of men are exceed- 
ingly incorrect ? It is indeed wonderful to see how far 
they diverge in all directions from the Bible standard. 

5. The amount of guilt can be determined as I have 
said only by the degree in which those ideas are de- 
veloped which throw light upon obligation. Just here 
sin lies, in resisting the light and acting in opposition 
to it, and therefore the degree of light should naturally 
measure the amount of guilt incurred. 

REMARKS. 
I. We see from this subject the principle on which 
many passages of Scripture are to be explained. It 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. 1 7 

might seem strange that Christ should charge the blood 
of all the martyred prophets of past ages on that gen- 
eration. But the subject before us reveals the prin- 
ciple upon which this is done and ought to be done. 

Whatever of apparent mystery may attach to the 
fact declared in our text — "The times of this ignorance 
God winked at" — finds in our subject an adequate ex- 
planation. Does it seem strange that for ages God 
should pass over almost without apparent notice 
the monstrous and reeking abominations of the 
Heathen world? The reason is found in their ignor- 
ance. Therefore God winks at those odious and cruel 
idolatries. For all, taken together, are a trifle com- 
pared with the guilt of a single generation of enlight- 
ened men. 

2. One sinner may be in such circumstances as to 
have more light and knowledge than the whole Hea- 
then world. Alas! how little the Heathen know! 
How little compared with what is known by sinners 
in this land, even by very young sinners ! 

Let me call up and question some impenitent sinner 
of Oberlin. It matters but little who — let it be any 
Sabbath-school child. 

What do you know about God ? 

I know that there is one God and only one. — The 
Heathen believe there are hundreds of thousands. 

What do you know about this God? 

I know that he is infinitely great and good. — But 
the Heathen thinks some of his gods are both mean 
and mischievous — wicked as can be and the very pa- 
trons of wickedness among men. 



1 8 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

What do you know about salvation? 

I know that God so loved the world as to give his 
only begotten Son to die that whosoever would believe 
on him might live forever. Oh ! the Heathen never 
heard of that. They would faint away methinks in 
amazement if they should hear and really believe the 
startling, glorious fact. And that Sabbath-school 
child knows that God gives his Spirit to convince of 
sin. He has perhaps often been sensible of the pres- 
ence and power of that Spirit. But the Heathen know 
nothing of this. 

You too know that you are immortal — that beyond 
death there is still a conscious unchanging state of ex- 
istence, blissful or wretched according to the deeds 
done here. But the Heathen have no just ideas on 
this subject. It is to them as if all were a blank. 

The amount of it then is that you know everything 
— the Heathen almost nothing. You know all you 
need to know to be saved, to be useful — to honor God 
and serve your generation according to his will. The 
Heathen sit in deep darkness, wedded to their abom- 
inations, groping, yet finding nothing. 

As your light therefore, so is your guilt immeasur- 
ably greater than theirs. Be it so that their idolatries 
are monstrous — your guilt in your impenitence under 
the light you have is vastly more so. See that Hea- 
then mother dragging her shrieking child and tumbling 
it into the Ganges! See her rush with another to 
throw him into the burning arms of Moloch. Mark; — 
see that pile of wood flashing, lifting up its lurid flames 
toward heaven. Those men are dragging a dead hus- 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. 1 9 

band — they heave his senseless corpse upon that burn- 
ing pile. There comes the widow — her hair dishev- 
eled and flying — gaily festooned for such a sacrifice; — 
she dances on; — she rends the air with her howls and 
her wailings; — she shrinks and yet she does not shrink 
— she leaps on the pile, and the din of music with the 
yell of spectators buries her shrieks of agony; she is 
gone ! Oh! my blood curdles and runs cold in my veins; 
— my hair stands on end; I am horrified with such 
scenes — but what shall we say of their guilt? Ah yes! 
— what do they know of God — of worship — of the 
claims of God upon their heart and life ? Ah ! you may 
well spare your censure of the Heathen for their fear- 
ful orgies of cruelty and lust, and give it where light 
has been enjoyed and resisted. 

3. You see then that often a sinner in some of our 
congregations may know more than all the Heathen 
world know. If this be true, what follows from it as 
to the amount of his comparative guilt? This inevi- 
tably, that such a sinner deserves a direr and deeper 
damnation than all the Heathen world! This conclu- 
sion may seem startling; but how can we escape" from 
it? We cannot escape. It is as plain as any mathe- 
matical demonstration. This is the principle asserted 
by Christ when he said — "That servant which knew 
his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did 
according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; 
but he that knew not and did commit things worthy 
of stripes; shall be beaten with few stripes." How 
solemn and how pungent the application of this doc- 
trine would be in this congregation ! I could call out 



20 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

many a sinner in this place and show him that beyond 
question his guilt is greater than that of all the Hea- 
then world. Yet how few ever estimated their own 
guilt thus. 

Not long since an ungodly young man, trained in 
this country, wrote back from the Sandwich Islands a 
glowing and perhaps a just description of their horrible 
abominations, moralizing on their monstrous enormi- 
ties and thanking God that he had been born and 
taught in a Christian land. Indeed! he might well 
have spared this censure of the dark-minded Heathen. 
His own guilt in remaining an impenitent sinner under 
all the light of Christian America was greater than the 
whole aggregate guilt of all those Islands. 

So we may all well spare our expressions of abhor- 
rence at the guilty abominations of idolatry. You are 
often perhaps saying in your heart — Why does God 
endure these horrid abominations another day? See 
that rolling car of Juggernaut. Its wheels move axle 
deep in the gushing blood and crushed bones of its de- 
luded worshipers ! And yet God looks on and no red 
bolt leaps from its right hand to smite such wicked- 
ness. They are indeed guilty; but Oh, how small their 
guilt compared with the guilt of those who know their 
duty perfectly, yet never do it! God sees their hor- 
rible abominations, yet does he wink at them because 
they are done in so much ignorance. 

But see that impenitent""' sinner. Convicted of his 
sin under, the clear gospel light that shines all around 
him, he is driven to pray. He knows he ought to. re- 
pent, and almost thinks he wants to, and will try. Yet 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. 21 

still he clings to his sins, and will not give up his heart 
to God. Still he holds his heart in a state of impeni- 
tence. Now mark here; — his sin in thus withholding 
his heart from God under so much light, involves 
greater guilt than all the abominations of the heathen 
world. Put together the guilt of all those widows who 
immolate themselves on the funeral pile — of those who 
hurl their children into the Ganges, or into the burning 
arms of Moloch — all does not begin to approach the 
guilt of that convicted sinner's prayer who comes be- 
fore God under the pressure of his conscience, and 
prays a heartless prayer, determined all the while to 
withhold his heart from God. Oh ! why does this sin- 
ner thus tempt God, and thus abuse his love, and thus 
trample on his known authority? Oh! that moment of 
impenitence, while his prayers are forced by conscience 
from his burning, lips, and yet he will not yield the 
controversy with his Maker — that moment, involves 
direr guilt than rests on all the Heathen world to- 
gether! He knows more than they all, yet sins de- 
spite of all his knowledge. The many stripes belong 
to him — the few to them. 

4. This leads me to remark again, that the Christ- 
ian world may very well spare their revilings and con- 
demnations of the Heathen. Of all the portions of 
earth's population, Christendom is infinitely the most 
guilty — Christendom, where the gospel peals from ten 
thousand pulpits — where its praises are sung by a 
thousand choirs, but where many thousand hearts that 
know God and duty, refuse either to reverence the one 
or perform the. other ! All the, abominations of the 



22 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

Heathen world are a mere trifle compared with the 
guilt of Christendom. We may look down upon the 
filth and meanness and degradation of a Heathen peo- 
ple, and feel a most polite disgust at the spectacle — 
and far be it from me, to excuse these degrading, filthy 
or cruel practices; but how small their light, and con- 
sequently their guilt, compared with our own ! We 
therefore ask the Christian world to turn away from 
the spectacle of Heathen degradation, and look nearer 
home, upon the spectacle of Christian guilt! Let us 
look upon ourselves. 

5. Again, let us fear not to say what you must all 
see to be true, that the nominal church is the most 
guilty part of Christendom. It cannot for a moment 
be questioned, that the church has more light than 
any other portion; therefore has she more guilt. Of 
course I speak of the nominal church — not the real 
church whom He has pardoned and cleansed from her 
sins. But in the nominal church, think of the sins 
that live and riot in their corruption. See that back- 
slider. Fie has tasted the waters of life. He has been 
greatly enlightened. Perhaps he has really known the 
Lord by true faith — and then see, he turns away to 
beg the husks of earthly pleasure! He turns his back 
on the bleeding Lamb ! Now, put together all the 
guilt of every Heathen soul that has gone to hell — of 
every soul that has gone from a state of utter moral 
darkness, and your guilt, backsliding Christian, is 
greater than all theirs! 

Do you, therefore, say — may God then, have mercy 
on my soul? So say we all; but we must add, if it be 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. 23 

possible ; for who can say that such guilt as yours can 
be forgiven ! Can Christ pray for you as he prayed for 
his murderers — ''Father, forgive them, for they know 
not what they do"? Can he plead in your behalf, 
that you knew not what you were doing? Awful! aw- 
ful! ! Where is the sounding line that shall measure 
the ocean-depth of your guilt ! 

6. Again, if our children remain in sin, we may 
cease to congratulate ourselves that they were not born 
in Heathenism or slavery! How often have I done 
this! How often, as I have looked upon my sons and 
daughters, have I thanked God that they were not 
born to be thrown into the burning arms of a Moloch, 
or to be crushed under the wheels of Juggernaut ! But 
if they will live in sin, we must suspend our self-con- 
gratulations for their having Christian light and privi- 
leges. If they will not repent, it were infinitely better 
for them to have been born in the thickest Pagan dark- 
ness — better to have been thrown in their tender years 
into the Ganges, or into the fires which idolatry kin- 
dles — better be anything else, or suffer any thing 
earthly, than have the gospel's light only to shut it out 
and go to hell despite of its admonitions. 

Let us not, then, be hasty in congratulating our- 
selves, as if this great light enjoyed by us and by our 
children, were of course a certain good to them; but 
this we may do — we may rejoice that God will honor 
himself — his mercy if he can, and his justice if he must. 
God will be honored, and we may glory in this. But 
Oh, the sinner, the sinner! Who can measure the 
depth of his guilt, or the terror of his final doom ! It 



24 THE RULE BY WHICH THE 

will be more tolerable for all the Heathen world to- 
gether than for you. 

7. It is time that we all understood this subject 
fully, and appreciated all its bearings. It is no doubt 
true, that however moral our children may be, they are 
more guilty than any other sinners under heaven, if 
they live in sin, and will not yield to the light under 
which they live. We may be perhaps congratulating 
ourselves on their fair morality; but if we saw their 
case in all its real bearings, our souls would groan with 
agony — our bowels would be all liquid with anguish — 
our very hearts within us would heave as if volcanic 
fires were kindled there — so deep a sense should we 
have of their fearful guilt and of the awful doom they 
incur in denying the Lord that bought them, and set- 
ting at naught a known salvation. Oh! if we ever pray, 
we should pour out our prayers for our offspring as if 
nothing could ever satisfy us or stay our importunity, 
but the blessings of a full salvation realized in their 
souls. 

Let the mind contemplate the guilt of these chil- 
dren. I could not find a Sabbath-school child, per- 
haps not one in all Christendom who could not tell me 
more of God's salvation than all the Heathen world 
know. That dear little boy who comes from his Sab- 
bath school knows all about the gospel. He is almost 
ready to be converted, but not quite ready; yet that 
little boy, if he knows his duty, and yet will not do it, 
is covered with more guilt than all the Heathen 
world together. Yes, that boy, who goes alone and 
prays, yet holds back his heart from God, and then his 



GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED. 2$ 

mother comes and prays over him, and pours her tears 
on his head, and his little heart almost melts, and he 
seems on the very point of giving up his whole heart 
to the Saviour; yet if he will not do it, he commits 
more sin in that refusal than all the sin of all the Hea- 
then world — his guilt is more than the guilt of all the 
murders, all the drownings of children, and burnings of 
widows, and deeds of cruelty and violence in all the 
Heathen world. All this combination of guilt shall 
not be equal to the guilt of the lad who knows his 
duty, but will not yield his heart to its righteous 
claims. 

8. "The Heathen," says an apostle, "sin without 
law, and shall therefore perish without law." In their 
final doom they will be cast away from God; this will 
be perhaps about all. The bitter reflection, "I had 
the light of the gospel and would not yield to it — I 
knew all my duty, yet did it not" — this cannot be a 
part of their eternal doom. This is reserved for those 
who gather themselves into our sanctuaries and around 
our family altars, yet will not serve their own Infinite 
Father. 

9. One more remark. Suppose I should call out a 
sinner by name — one of the sinners of this congrega- 
tion, a son of pious parents, and should call up the 
father also. — I might say, Is this your son? Yes. 
What testimony can you bear about this son of yours? 
I have endeavored to teach him all the ways of the 
Lord. Son, what can you say? I know my duty. I 
have heard it a thousand Hm e«, T Uo«' t ^,~U4- fo 
repent, but I never would. 



26 THE GUILT OF SIN ESTIMATED. 

Oh ! if we understood this matter in all its bearings, it 
would fill every bosom with consternation and grief. 
How would our bowels burn and heave as a volcano ! 
There would be one universal outcry of anguish and 
terror at the awful guilt and fearful doom of such a 
sinner! 

Young man, are you going away this day in your 
sins? Then, what angel can compute your guilt? Oh! 
how long has Jesus held out his hands, yes, his bleed- 
ing hands, and besought you to look and live ! A 
thousand times, and in countless varied ways has He 
called, but you have refused; stretched out his hands, 
and you have not regarded. Oh ! why will you not re- 
pent? Why not say at once, It is enough that I have 
sinned so long ? I cannot live so any longer ! O sin- 
ner, why will you live so ! Would you go down to 
hell — ah, to the deepest hell — where, if we would find 
you, we must work our way down a thousand years 
through ranks of lost spirits less guilty than you, ere 
we could reach the fearful depth to which you have 
sunk? O sinner, what a hell is that which can ade- 
quately punish such guilt as thine ! 



II. 

THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM 



" He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly 
be destroyed, and that without remedy." — Proverbs xxix. I. 

IN discussing this subject I will consider : 
I. When and how persons are reproved; 
II. God's design in reproving sinners; 

III. What it is to harden the neck; 

IV. What is intended by the sinner's being 

SUDDENLY DESTROYED; and 

V. What is implied in its being without 

REMEDY. 

/. God's reproof of sinners may properly be con- 
sidered as embracing'three distinct departments ; namely, 
reproof by means of his word, by. means of his prov- 
idence, and through his Spirit. My limits will allow me 
to make only a few suggestions under each of these 
heads. 

I . God reproves the sinner by his word whenever 
He in any way presents truth to his mind through his 
word, which shows the sinner his sins, — which reveals 
to him duties that he is not performing. Any such 
revelation of duties not done, and of sins positively 
committed, is reproof from God. Suppose you are a 
parent, and you point out to your child some neglect 
of duty. You by this act reprove your child. There 



28 THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 

may be connected with this some degree of threatening 
explicitly announced, or there may not be ; in either 
case it is reproof: for it must always be understood 
that threatening is involved. Hence if you call the at- 
tention of your child to anything in his conduct which 
displeases you, this very act is reproof. So when God 
by the revealed truth of his word calls the sinner's at- 
tention to the fact of sin, He virtually reproves him, 
and this is God's intention in calling his mind to the 
fact of his sin. 

2. By God's providence sinners are reproved, when 
their selfish projects are defeated. Sinful men are con- 
tinually planning selfish schemes, and God often through 
his providence frustrates those schemes ; and does so for 
the very purpose of reproving their projectors. He 
could not rebuke them in a more emphatic way than 
this. 

Sinners often frame ambitions projects. The student 
seeks for himself a great name as a scholar ; in other 
spheres, men seek the renown of the warrior, or the 
civilian — their aspiration being to enroll their names 
high above their fellows on the pillar of fame ; but God 
in his providence blasts their hopes, frustrates their 
plans, and would fain make them see that they had bet- 
ter by far get their names written in the Lamb's book of 
life. So He blots out their name on Ambition's scroll 
as fast as they can write it there ; — as if He would show 
them their folly, and allure them to write it where no 
power can ever erase it. 

Again, it often happens that men by means of their 
selfishness become involved in difficulty ; — perhaps by 



THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 2Q 

a selfish use of their property, or by a selfish indulgence 
of their tongues; and God springs his net upon them, 
and suddenly they are taken, and find themselves sud- 
denly brought up to think of their ways, and to experi- 
ence the mischiefs of their selfish schemes. How often 
do we see this! Men make haste to be rich, and start 
some grasping scheme of selfishness for this purpose ; 
but God suddenly springs his net upon them — blasts 
their schemes, and sets them to thinking whether there 
be not a "a God in heaven who minds the affairs of 
men." 

Another man finds himself entangled in lawsuits, and 
his property melts away like an April snow; and an- 
other pushes into some hazardous speculation — till the 
frown of the Almighty rebukes his folly. 

As men have a thousand ways to develop their sel- 
fishness, so God has a thousand ways to head them 
back in their schemes and suggest forcibly to their 
minds that "this their way is their folly." In all such 
cases men ought to regard themselves as taken in the 
net of God's providence. God meets them in the nar- 
row way of their selfishness, to talk with them about 
the vanity and folly of their course. 

Everything which is adapted to arrest the attention 
of men in their sins may be regarded as a providential 
reproof. Thus, when God comes among sinners and 
cuts down some of their companions in iniquity, how 
solemn often are those dispensations ! Often have I 
had opportunity to notice these effects. Often have I 
seen how solemn the minds of sinners become under 
these reproofs of the Almighty. Their feelings become 



30 THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 

tender ; their sensibilities to truth are strongly excited. 
Who can fail to see that such events are designed to 
arrest the attention, and to rebuke and reprove them in 
their course of sin? 

Every obstacle which God in his providence inter- 
poses in your way of selfishness, is his reproof. You 
can regard it in no other light. 

God sometimes reproves sinners in a way which may 
be deemed more pungent than any other. I allude to 
that way which the Bible describes as heaping coals of 
fire on an enemy's head. A man abuses you ; and in 
retaliation you do him all the good in your power. 
Glorious retaliation ! How it pours the scorching lava 
on his head! Now God often does this very thing with 
sinners. They sin against Him most abusively and 
most outrageously ; — and what does He do ? How 
does He retaliate upon them ? Only by pouring out 
upon them a yet richer flood of mercies! *He pours 
new blessings into their lap till it runs over. He pros- 
pers their efforts for property, enlarges their families 
like a flock, and smiles on everything to which they put 
their hand. Oh, how strangely do these mercies contrast 
with the sinner's abuse of his great Benefactor! 

I can recollect some cases of this sort in my own ex- 
perience, when the deep consciousness of guilt made 
me apprehend some great judgments from God. But 
just then, God seemed in a most remarkable manner to 
reveal his kindness and his love, and to show the great 
meekness of his heart. Oh, what a rebuke of my sins 
was this ! Could anything else so break my heart all to 



THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 3 1 

pieces? Who does not know the power of kindness to 
melt the heart? 

So God rebukes the sinner for his sins, and seeks to 
subdue his hard heart by manifested love. 

Often sickness is to be regarded as a rebuke from God. 
When persons for selfish purposes abuse their health 
and God snatches it away, He in a most forcible way 
rebukes them for their madness. 

Sometimes He brings the lives of men into great peril, 
so that there shall be but a step between them and death ; 
— as if He would give this movement of his providence 
a voice of trumpet-power to forewarn them of their 
coming doom. So various and striking are the ways of 
God's providence in which He reproves men for their 
sins. 

3. God also reproves men by his Spirit. According 
to our Saviour's teachings, the Spirit shall "reprove the 
world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." Hence 
when sinners are specially convicted of sin they should 
know that God has come in his own person to reprove 
them. His Spirit comes to their very hearts, and makes 
impressions of truth and duty there — revealing to the 
sinner his own heart, and showing him how utterly at 
variance it is with a heart full of divine love. 

Again, I have no doubt that in the present as in for- 
mer days God reproves men of their sins by means of 
* dreams. If all the reliable cases of this sort which 
have occurred since the Bible was completed were re- 
corded, I doubt not they would fill many volumes. I 
am aware that some suppose this mode of divine oper- 
ation upon the human mind has long ago ceased ; but 



32 THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 

I think otherwise. It may have ceased to be a medium 
of revealing new truth — doubtless it has ; but it has not 
ceased to be employed as a means of impressing and 
enforcing truth already revealed. Sometimes the great 
realities of the coming judgment and of the world of 
doom are brought out and impressed upon the mind 
with overwhelming force by means of dreams. When 
this is the case, who shall say that the hand of the 
Lord is not in it? 

A striking instance of a dream in which the hand of 
the Lord may be seen, is related by President Edwards. 
One of his neighbors, an intemperate man, dreamed 
that he died and went to hell. I will not attempt to 
relate here the circumstances that according to his dream 
occurred there. Suffice it to say that he obtained per- 
mission to return to earth on probation for one year, 
and was told distinctly that if he did not reform within 
one year, he must come back again. Upon this he 
awaked, under most solemn impressions of the dreadful 
realities of the sinner's hell. That very morning he 
went to see his pastor, Pres. Edwards, who said to him 
— "This is a solemn warning from God to your soul. 
You must give heed to it and forsake your sins, or you 
are a ruined man for eternity." The man made very 
solemn promises'. When he had retired, Edwards 
opened his journal and made an entry of the principal 
facts ; — the dream, the conversation, and of course the 
date of these events. The inebriate reformed and ran 
well for a time ; attended church and seemed serious ; 
but long before the year came round, he relapsed, re- 
turned to his cups, and ultimately in a fit of intoxica- 



THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 33 

tion opened a chamber door in a shop which led down 
an outside stairway — pitched headlong and broke his 
neck. Pres. Edwards turned to his journal and found 
that the one year from the date of his dream came round 
that very night, and the man's appointed time was up! 

Now it is no doubt true that in general, dreams are 
under the control of physical law, and follow, though 
with much irregularity, the strain of our waking reve- 
ries ; and for this reason many persons will not believe 
the hand of the Lord ever works in them ; yet their 
inference is by no means legitimate ; for God certainly 
can put his hand upon the mind dreaming as w r ell as 
upon the mind waking, and multitudes of instances in 
point show that Fie sometimes does. 

Again, God reproves the sinner whenever his Spirit 
awakens in the mind a sense of the great danger of liv- 
ing in sin. I have often known sinners greatly affected 
with the thought of this danger — the terrible danger of 
passing along through life in sin, exposed every hour to 
an eternal and remediless hell. 

Now these solemn impressions are God's kind warn- 
ings, impressed on the soul because He loves the sin- 
ner's well-being, and would fain save him if He wisely 
can. 

Often God's Spirit gives sinners a most impressive 

view of the shortness of time. He makes them feel 

that this general truth applies in all its power to them- 

selves — that their own time is short, and that they in 

all probability have not long to live. I am aware that 

this impression sometimes originates in one's state of 

health ; but I also know that sometimes there is good 
2* 



34 THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 

reason to recognize God's own special hand in it ; and 
that men sometimes ascribe to nervous depression of 
spirits what should be ascribed directly to God Him- 
self. 

Again, God often makes the impression that the pres- 
ent is the sinner's last opportunity to secure salvation. 
I know not how many such cases have fallen under my 
own observation, cases in which sinners have been made 
to feel deeply that this is to be the very last offer of 
mercy, and these the very last strivings of the Spirit. 
My observation has taught me in such cases, to expect 
that the result will verify the warning — that this is none 
other than God's voice, and that God does not lie to 
man, but teaches most solemn and impressive truth. 
Oh, how does it become every sinner to listen and heed 
such timely warnings ! 

Again, God's Spirit reproves sinners through their 
particular friends, or through gospel ministers. The 
affectionate admonitions of a brother or a sister, a 
parent or a child, a husband or a wife — how often have 
these been the vehicle through which God has spoken 
to the soul! His ministers also, God often employs for 
this purpose, so directing their minds that they in fact 
present to the sinner the very truth which fits his case, 
and he says, "It must be that somebody has told the 
minister all about my thoughts and feelings. Who can 
it be? I have never told anybody half so much of my 
heart as he has preached to-day." Now in such cases 
you may be safe in ascribing the fitting truth to the 
guiding hand of the divine Spirit. God is making use 
of his servant to reprove the sinner. 



THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 35 

In all such cases as I have now been adducing, the 
reproofs administered should be ascribed to the Spirit 
of the Lord. In the same manner as God often in various 
ways administers consolation to penitent souls ; so does 
He administer reproof to the impenitent. He has a 
thousand modes of making his voice audible to the sin- 
ner's conscience, and in his wisdom he always selects 
such as he deems best adapted to produce the desired 
result. 

II. The design of God in reproving sinners. 

One thing aimed at is to press them with the means 
of reform. A benevolent God sincerely desires their 
salvation and honestly does all He wisely can to secure 
this desired result. Hence his oft-repeated reproofs 
and warnings. He will at least leave them without ex- 
cuse. They shall never have it to say — " Oh, if we had 
only been forewarned of danger in those precious hours 
and years in which salvation was possible!" God de- 
signedly forestalls such exclamations by taking away all 
occasion, and putting in their mouths a very different 
one — "How have I hated instruction and my heart 
despised reproof." 

For this purpose God forewarns the sinner in season. 
Take the case of the man who dreamed of going down 
to hell. This dream was a loud and timely warning, 
adapted as well perhaps as any warning could be to in- 
duce reform and real repentance. It effectually took 
away all excuse or apology for persisting in his sins. 

God designs by these reproofs to prepare men for the 
solemn judgment. It is in his heart to do them good 
— secure their seasonable — that is, their present, imme- 



36 THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 

diate repentance, so that they may meet their God in 
peace at last. His benevolence prompts Him to this 
course and He pursues it with all his heart. 

It is no doubt equally true that the great God de- 
signs to be ready Himself for the final judgment — to 
meet every sinner there. He foresees that it will be 
important for Him there to show how He has dealt 
with each sinner — how often and how faithfully He has 
acted towards them the part of a kind Father. For this 
end every reproof ever given to a sinner will come in 
place. That dream recorded by Pres. Edwards will 
then be found recorded also by an angel's pen — to be 
revealed before all worlds then and there! This is one 
step in the process of parental efforts for reclaiming one 
sinner. The admonition so faithfully given by Pres. 
Edwards is another. All will go to show that truly God 
has been "long suffering towards sinners because He is 
not willing that any should perish, but that all should 
come to repentance." 

Thus will God in these providential warnings glorify 
Himself by exhibiting his true character and conduct. 
Nothing more is ever needful in order to glorify God 
than that his true character and conduct should be 
known as it is. The developments brought out at the 
judgment-day will thus reveal God, and of course will 
enhance his glory. 

It is also interesting to see how God makes one warn- 
ing create another. One providential event, sent as a 
judgment upon one sinner, multiplies its warning voice 
many fold as it falls upon the ears of hosts of other sin- 
ners. God cuts down one out of a class of hoary sin- 



THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 2)7 

ners, or of sinners in middle life, or in youth, and the event 
speaks in notes of solemn warning to hundreds. At 
Rome, N. Y., several years ago a great revival occurred, 
the power of which rocked and rent the stout hearts of 
many sinners, as the forest trees are rocked and rent by 
a tornado ; but with it came some awful judgments re- 
vealing another form of the mighty hand of God. There 
were in that place a small class of hard drinkers who 
seemed determined to resist every call from God to repent. 
On the Sabbaths they would get together for drinking and 
revelling. On one of these occasions, one of their num- 
ber suddenly fell down dead. Mr. Gillett, pastor of the 
church in that place, hastened to the spot, found the 
fallen man yet warm, but actually dead ; and turning to 
the surrounding company of his associates, said, "There 
— who of you can doubt that this man has gone right 
down to hell!" This case made a deep and thrilling 
impression. 

Another man, a famous apostate from a profession of 
religion, greatly opposed the revival. All at once God 
smote him with madness, and in his insane ravings he 
sought to take his own life. Men by turns had to watch 
him and restrain him by violence from committing sui- 
cide. Ere long he died a most horrid death — an awful 
warning to hardened apostates of their impending 
doom ! So God tries to reform and save guilty men. 

Again, God would manifest the utter madness, reck- 
lessness, and folly of sinners. How striking it will ap- 
pear in the judgment to see such a multitude of cases 
of reproof brought out to light, and then in connection 
to see the folly and madness of sinners in resisting so 



38 THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 

many reproofs ! What a gazing-stock will sinners then 
be to the gathered myriads of intelligent beings ! I 
have sometimes thought this will be the greatest won- 
der of the universe, to see the men who have displayed 
such perfect and long-continued infatuation in resisting 
so much love and so many kind and most heart-affect- 
ing appeals and reproofs ! There they will stand mon- 
uments of the voluntary infatuation of a self-willed 
sinner! The intelligent universe will gaze at them as 
if they were the embodiment of all that is wondrous in 
madness and folly! 

III. What is it to harden the neck ? 

The figure is taken from the effect of the yoke on the 
bullock. Under constant pressure and friction the skin 
becomes callous, and past feeling. So with the sinner's 
conscience. His will has resisted truth until his con- 
stant opposition has hardened his moral sensibility, and 
his will rests in the attitude of rebellion against God. 
His mind is now fixed ; reproofs which have heretofore 
chafed his sensibilities no longer reach them ; friction 
and resistance have hardened his heart till he is past 
feeling. No dispensations of providence alarm him : 
no voice from God disturbs him ; under all appeals to his 
reason or conscience his will is doggedly fixed ; his 
moral feelings are insensible. 

In this state, one might well say, the neck is hard- 
ened. The figure is pertinent. Who has not seen 
cases of this sort? cases of men who have become so 
hardened that every reproof passes by them as if it 
touched them not — as if their moral sensibility had 
ceased to be any sensibility at all. I was struck the 



THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 39 

other day in conversing with a man of seventy-five, 
with his apparent insensibility to religious considera- 
tions. "Are you a Christian?" said I. "No ; I don't 
know anything about them things — what you call 
Christians. I never murdered anybody, and I guess I 
have been as honest as most folks in my way." "But 
are you prepared to enter heaven — to go into another 
state of existence, and meet God face to face?" "Oh! 
I don't believe anything about them things. If I only 
live about right, that's enough for me." I could make 
no impression on such a mind as his ; but God will 
make such men know something about these things by 
and by. They will change their tone ere long ! 

You sometimes see men in this condition who have 
given their intelligence up to embrace error, and have 
of free choice put darkness for light, and light for dark- 
ness ; have stultified themselves in their own iniquities, 
and have said to evil, " Be thou my good." These have 
a seared conscience and a hard heart ; their neck is an 
iron sinew, and they are fixed and fully set never to 
yield to God's most reasonable demands. 

What, then, shall God do with such men? The text 
tells us. They "shall be suddenly destroyed, and that 
without remedy." This leads me to inquire, 

IV. What is meant by being suddenly destroyed ' ? 

It implies their being cut off unexpectedly, in such an 
hour as they think not. We often speak of things as 
coming suddenly; not because they come early in life, 
but because they fall upon men all suddenly and without 
being at all anticipated. In this sense the term sicd- 
denly seems to be used in our text. When some awful 



40 THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 

stroke of God's providence falls suddenly among us, 
smiting down some sinner in his sins, we say — What 
a sudden death ! what an awful dispensation ! So the 
Bible says, while they cry "Peace and safety, then sud- 
den destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not 
escape." No forewarning is given ; no herald with 
trumpet-call proclaims the coming of that death-shaft ; 
but all suddenly it cuts the air and strikes its blow ! It 
has no need to strike another! Noiseless as the falling 
dew it comes ; with velvet step it enters his bed-cham- 
ber ; in such forms as no skill or power of man can 
baffle, it makes its approaches ; death raises his bony 
arm — poises that never-erring shaft — in a moment, 
where is the victim? Gone; but where? The Bible 
says, he is "suddenly destroyed." Does this mean 
that he is borne up as on a chariot of fire to heaven? 
Were the wicked men of Sodom and Gomorrah — "set 
forth as an ensample" of the doom of the wicked — 
caught away up to heaven in mounting columns of fire 
and brimstone? If that had been, methinks all heaven 
would have fainted at the sight! Or were the people 
of the old world, who had all corrupted their way be- 
fore God, and who were so full of violence and bloodshed 
that God could not endure them on earth — were they 
all swept by the flood into heaven, while poor Noah, 
scorned by the men of his generation, must toil many 
long years to prepare him an ark to save himself and 
family from being also destroyed into heaven ? 

What infinite trifling is this with God's words, to 
say that the sinner's destruction is only taking him by 
the shortest route and the quickest way into heaven ! 



THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER* S DOOM. 4 1 

Does God say or mean this? No! If it had been his 
purpose to deceive men, He could not have taken a 
more direct and certain method than this, of calling the 
taking of men suddenly to heaven, destruction ! No, 
this mode of using language belongs to Satan and not 
to God ! We should never confound the broad distinc- 
tion between the God of truth and the Father of lies! 

V. What is meant when this destruction is said to 
be "without remedy''' ? 

1. That this destruction cannot be arrested. It 
comes with resistless and overwhelming power, and 
seems to mock all efforts made to withstand its progress. 
A most striking exemplification of this appeared in the 
dreadful Cholera which swept over many of our cities 
some years ago. I was then in New York city — an 
eye-witness and more than an eye-witness of its terrific 
power. My own system experienced its withering 
shock. A man of the strongest constitution occupied 
a room adjacent to mine ; was attacked the same hour 
that I was, and within a few hours was a corpse. Its 
powerful sweep was appalling. You might as well put 
forth your hand to stay the tornado in its rush of power 
as think to withstand this messenger of the Almighty. 
So with those forms of destruction which come at God's 
behest to whelm the hardened sinner in destruction. 
They come with the strides and the momentum of Om- 
nipotence. The awful hand of God is in them, and 
who can stand before Him when once his wrath is 
moved ? 

Many other forms of disease, as well as the Cholera, 
evince the terror of Jehovah's arm. The strong man is 



42 THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 

bowed low ; his physician sits by his bed-side, power- 
less to help ; disease mocks all efforts to withstand its 
progress ; human skill can only sit by and chronicle its 
triumph. God is working, and none but a God could 
resist. 

2. The very language shows that the principal idea 
of the writer is that this destruction is endless. It is 
destruction — the utter ruin of all good — the blighting 
and withering of all happiness forever. No rescue shall 
be possible ; recovery is hopeless ; it is a grave beyond 
which dawns no resurrection. The destruction wrecks 
all hope in the common ruin, and in its very terms pre- 
cludes the idea of remedy. Can you conceive of an- 
other element of terror, not already involved and de- 
veloped in this most dire of all forms of destruction ? 

REMARKS. 

I. We see how to account for the sudden deaths of 
the wicked that occur often, and what we are to think 
of them. Some such deaths have occurred here which 
were exceedingly striking to me. Here we have seen 
young men, sons of pious parents, children of many 
prayers and many warnings ; but they waxed hard un- 
der reproof; and their days were soon numbered. Away 



they go — and we see them no more. There was one 
young man who came here to study. He had been 
warned and prayed for. Perhaps the Lord saw that 
there was no hope in any farther effort. His sickness 
I can never forget ; nor his horror as death drew on 
apace. Away he passed from the world of hope and 
mercy. I will not attempt to foll.ow him, nor would I 



THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 43 

presume to know his final doom ; — but one thing I know ; 
— his companions in sin received in his death a most sol- 
emn and awful warning. 

2. The danger of wicked men is in proportion to the 
light they have. Men of great light are much the most 
likely to be cut off in early life. Of this we have seen 
some very striking instances in this place. Some young 
men have been raised here — were here when I came 
into the place, and then, in the tender years of child- 
hood and youth they saw their companions converted, 
and were often affectionately warned themselves. But 
they seemed to resist every warning and come quick to 
maturity in moral insensibility. I need not give their 
names : you knew them once ; where are they now ? 
It is not for me to tell where they are ; — but I can tell 
where they are not. They are not grown up to bless 
the church and the world ; they did not choose such a 
course and such an end to their life. They are not here 
among us. No ! the places that knew them once shall 
know them no more forever. You may call for them in our 
College halls ; in the sad-hearted families where once 
they might be found ; — they respond to no call — till the 
blast of the final trumpet. They knew their duty but 
too well, and but too soon they apparently settled the 
question that they would not do it. 

That old man of almost four score of whom I spake 
was not brought up in any Oberlin. His birthplace was 
in the dark places of the earth — in Canada — where he 
learned neither to read nor to write. There are chil- 
dren here not ten years old who have forty times as 



44 THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER* S DOOM. 

much knowledge on all religious subjects as he. He 
has lived to become hoary in sin ; these children, brought 
up here, need expect no such thing. Tell me where 
you can find an old man who has been brought up in 
the midst of great light, who yet lives long and waxes 
more and more hard in sin and guilt. Usually such 
men as sin against great light in their youth will not 
live out half their days. 

3. It is benevolent in God to make his providential 
judgments in cutting down hardened sinners a means of 
warning others. Often this is the most impressive 
warning God can give men. In some cases it is so terri- 
ble that sinners have not even dared to attend the funeral 
of their smitten associates. They have seemed afraid 
to go near the awful scene — -so manifest has it been that 
God's hand is there. In many instances within my 
personal knowledge the hand of God has cut down in 
a most horrible manner," men who were opposing re- 
vivals. I cannot now dwell upon these cases. 

4. We may learn to expect the terrible destruction 
of those who under great light are hardening themselves 
in sin. I have learned, when I see persons passing 
through great trials, to keep my eye on them and see if 
they reform. If they do not, I expect to see them ere 
long cut down as hopeless cumberers of the ground. 
Being often reproved yet still hardening their neck, they 
speedily meet their doom according to the principle of 
God's government announced in our text. 

5. Reproof administered either soon subdues, or 
rapidly ripens for destruction. This ripening process 
goes on rapidly in proportion to the pressure with which 



THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER S DOOM. 45 

God follows them with frequent and solemn reproofs. 
When you see God following the sinner close with fre- 
quent reproofs, plying him with one dispensation after 
another, and all in vain, you may expect the lifted bolt 
to smite him next and speedily. 

6. The nearer destruction is to men, the less as a 
general thing they fear or expect it. When you hear 
them cry " Peace and safety, then sudden destruction" 
is at hand and they shall not escape. Just at the time 
when you are saying — "I never enjoyed better health" 
— just then when you are blessing yourself in the pros- 
pect of securing your favorite objects, then sudden 
destruction comes down like an Alpine avalanche, and 
there is neither time to escape nor strength to resist. 
How often do you hear it said — Alas ! it was so unex- 
pected, so sudden — who would have thought this blow 
was coming! Just when we least of all expected it, it 
fell with fatal power. 

7. Sinners who live under great light are living very 
fast. Those who are rapidly acquiring knowledge of 
duty, standing in a focal centre of blazing light, with 
everything to arouse their attention — they, unless they 
yield to this light, must soon live out the short months 
of their probation. They must soon be converted, or 
soon pass the point of hope — the point within which 
it is morally possible that they shall be renewed. Men 
may under some circumstances live to the age of sev- 
enty and never get so much light as they can in a few 
days or weeks in some situations. Under 'one set of 
circumstances a sinner might get more light, commit 
more sin, and become more hardened in a twelve month 



46 THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER'S DOOM. 

than he would under other circumstances in a life of 
four score years. Under the former circumstances he 
lives fast. A Sabbath-school child might in this point 
of view die an hundred years old. The accumulations 
of a hundred years of sin and guilt and hardness might 
in his case be made in one short year. Where light 
is blazing as it has blazed here ; where children have 
line upon line as they are wont to have here, how rap- 
idly they live! How soon do they fill up the allotted 
years of probation for the reason that the great business 
of probation is driven through with prodigiously accel- 
erated rapidity ! Oh, how suddenly will your destruction 
come, unless you speedily repent! Of all places on 
earth, this should be the last to be chosen to live in, 
unless you mean to repent. I would as soon go to the 
very door of hell and pitch my tent to dwell there, as 
to come here to live, unless I purposed to serve God. 
Yet many parents bring or send their children here to 
be educated — in hope often that they will be converted 
too ; and this is well ; so would I ; but by all means, 
ply them with truth, and press them with appeals and 
entreaties, and give them no rest, till they embrace the 
great salvation. Let these parents see to it that their 
children are really converted. If they pass along with- 
out being converted, do you not expect they will soon 
break away and plunge into some of the dark mazes of 
error? Who does not know that this is the natural re- 
sult of resisting great light? "Because they receive 
not the love of the truth that they may be saved, God 
shall send them strong delusion, that they may believe 
a lie, and all be damned who believed not the truth but 



THE SELF-HARDENING SINNER S DOOM. 47 

had pleasure in unrighteousness." Oh, how they go on 
with rapid strides down to the depths of hell ! You 
scarce can say they are here, before they are gone. 
And the knell of their early graves proclaims, " He that, 
being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly 
be destroyed, and that without remedy." 



III. 

THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 



" For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and 
lose his own soul ? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his 
soul? " — Mark viii. 36, 37. 

OURS is an inquisitive world, and the present es- 
pecially is an inquisitive age. Particularly is this 
inquisitiveness developed in perpetual inquiries upon 
matters of loss and gain. Almost universally this class 
of questions agitates the public mind, often tasking its 
powers to the utmost. Almost the whole race seem 
all on fire to know how they can avoid loss and secure 
gain. Assuredly therefore, this being the great ques- 
tion which men interest themselves to ask, it cannot be 
out of place for God to propose such a question as the 
text presents, nor for his servants to take it from his 
lips and press it upon the attention and the consciences 
of his hearers. 

And let me here say, it must be specially proper to 
propose it to the young men who are seeking good, 
and studying questions of profit and gain. Your souls 
thirst for happiness. How much, then, does it become 
you to ask whether these questions from the lips of 
your Redeemer may not give you a priceless clue to 
the secret of all real and permanent good. 

The question concisely expressed, is, What is a 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 49 

fair equivalent for the soul ? For wJiat consideration 

coidd a man afford to lose his sold? 

To bring the subject fully before your minds, let me 
I. Direct your attention to the worth of 

THE SOUL; 

II. TO THE DANGER OF LOSING IT; 

III. TO THE CONDITIONS OF SAVING IT. 

/. Whenever ministers enter the pulpit to preach, 
they always take many things for granted. All do this 
more or less; all must do it if they would preach with 
any effectiveness to the heart; and it is right that they 
should. This is true not of the gospel minister only, 
but of every teacher. Every teacher assumes that his 
pupils exist, and that they know this truth; also, that 
he exists himself. 

Many other truths are assumed by the preacher. 
We must always begin somewhere. Generally we be- 
gin as the Bible does. The Bible assumes the truths 
of natural theology, and proceeds in its teachings as if 
all men knew at least these truths. 

This congregation professes to be Christian, and I 
may therefore assume that at least nominally it is so. 
I shall not therefore address you as a heathen people, 
or as atheists, or even Universalists. 

There are certain great truths admitted by almost 
all Christians; for example, that the soul is immortal. 
This is admitted so generally, I shall assume that you 
all admit it. You admit it to be true of both the 
righteous and the wicked. You admit that the Bible 
teaches this, and I shall not therefore attempt to 
prove it. 
3 



50 THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 

It must also be admitted that, from the very nature 
of mind, its capacities, both of intellect and sensibility, 
will be always increasing. This increase is obviously 
a law of mind in this world, although, from the con- 
nection of mind with matter, old age and disease seem 
to form an exception. This is indeed an exception to 
the common law, yet one which plainly results from 
the influence of physical frailty, and can therefore have 
no existence in a state where no physical frailty is ex- 
perienced. It must be admitted that the exception 
does not result from any law of mind, but purely from 
a present law of matter. 

The common law of mental progress is exceedingly 
apparent. Put your eye on the new-born infant. It 
knows nothing. It begins with the slightest percep- 
tion, it may be of some visible object, or of the taste 
of its food. From a starting-point almost impercep- 
tible it goes on, making its hourly accessions of knowl- 
edge and consequent expansion of powers, till, like a 
Newton, it can fathom the sublime problem of the great 
law of the physical universe. 

It is generally admitted that the capacities of men in 
the future state for either happiness or misery will be 
full — absolutely full. That coming state must be in 
respect to enjoyment, not mixed like the present, but 
simple; — unalloyed bliss, or unalleviated woe. Hence 
the soul must actually enjoy or suffer to the utmost 
limit of its capacity. You all admit this; or if not 
all, the exceptions are few and I am not aware of any 
among you. 

Let us not forget to connect with this idea of pro- 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 5 1 

gression the idea of eternity. It is not only progress, 
but eternal progress. This is involved in the immor- 
tality of the soul. No doctrine is more plainly taught 
and more universally implied in the Bible; none is more 
amply confirmed by testimony drawn from the nature 
of the soul itself. It stands among the truths admitted 
by almost every one who bears even nominally the 
Christian name. 

Now what follows from these admitted truths ? 

If men are always to progress in knowledge and 
capacity, then a period will arrive in which the least 
intelligence will be able to say, I know more now than 
all the created universe knew when I was born. This 
must be true. Its truth follows by necessity from the 
truths we have admitted. 

But even this is not all. For when he has reached 
this point of acquisition in knowledge, he has only 
begun. Eternity is yet before him. The time will 
come when he will know ten thousand times as much 
as all the universe did when he was born; nay, not 
merely ten thousand times as much, but myriads of 
myriads of times as much. The time will arrive in the 
lapse of eternal ages when, if all the present created 
universe were tasked to the utmost to conceive or esti- 
mate how much this one intelligence can know, they 
would fall entirely short of reaching the mighty con- 
ception. And even this is only a mere beginning, for 
this vast intelligence is not a whit nearer the terminus 
of his progression than when he was one day old. To 
be sure, all the universe have kept pace with him. They 
have all moved along together, under a law of progress 



52 THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 

common to them all. Each one can say the same and 
as much as he. The attainments of each and of all 
will forever fall short of infinite, although they are 
always indefinitely increasing. 

Look at the happiness of the righteous. Always 
increasing; evermore swelling its deep and gushing 
tides, with no limit to their growth and no end to their 
progression. Who does not know that this must be so ? 
Look at the little infant. It seems to have but the 
least possible capacity, and this is developed at first 
only in its physical powers. All the earliest germs of 
sensation and emotion pertain to the body alone. The 
little one is hungry and cries; then is nursed and is 
quiet; it opens its little eye and beholds the light and 
is pleased; by-and-by it comes to know its mother's 
presence, and to love that beaming look of fondness 
and those soothing tones of love. Here opens to that 
infant mind a new source of happiness, and new powers 
begin to develop themselves. The little one smiles re- 
sponsive to the smiles of its now known mother, and 
enjoys the pleasure of being caressed and loved. Then 
on and on through opening life: new knowledge opens 
new 'sources of happiness; progress — progress is the 
established law of our mental and sentient being. By- 
and-by that child, late an infant, is a pupil in school, 
and then a youth in college. On and still onward is 
his progress in knowledge. 

Nor let us lose sight of the fact that the same law of 
progress obtains also in the department of the sensibil- 
ity. A uniform relation is maintained between man's 
intellectual and sentient faculties. Knowledge increas- 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 53 

ing gives scope for increased joys or sorrows. Thus 
the mind progresses through all the stages of its earthly 
existence, new knowledge continually opening new 
sources of enjoyment or suffering. Mark how much 
that man or woman is capable of enjoying, compared 
with the capacity of his or her period of infancy. Now 
he may be bowed down under an overwhelming weight 
of sorrow, or he may be lifted up in ecstasies of joy 
unspeakable and full of glory. And this progress, we 
should remark, is often made despite of very unfavor- 
able circumstances. The law of progress acts with a 
positive energy that no ordinary circumstances can 
resist. 

But let us now look into the next world — the next 
state of our existence. Knowledge sustains still the 
same relation to the sensibility; what you know there 
serves no less than it did here to augment your bliss or 
aggravate your woe. All the powers of your being 
sustain the same mutual relation as ever. Just think 
then how vast the joys and sorrows of that coming 
state! Mark how they tower high above all that is 
ever experienced in this brief state ! This is no poetry. 
It is more than poetry — infinitely more ! ! It is too 
obviously and certainly true to admit of the least ques- 
tion. Its truth results from admissions you make and 
doctrines you hold as a Christian congregation — admis- 
sions and doctrines common to all who are not atheists 
— common to all who observe the laws of our present 
existence and who admit that these laws will follow 
our existence into our future state of being. 

Following out these admitted truths to their necessary 



54 THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 

results, we see that the time must come, in the lapse of 
eternal ages, when each saint can say, I now enjoy 
more in a given time than all the saints in the universe 
did when I first entered heaven. For, as with knowl- 
edge, so with happiness: it must of course come under 
the same law of progress. Its measure must sustain 
its established correlation to the amount of our knowl- 
edge; so that, as the one stretches onward and still 
onward, with no limit to its progress, so also does the 
other. As therefore the time will come when no created 
mind can estimate the knowledge attained by the 
now feeblest intelligence, so will it also come when no 
capacity can estimate the measure of its happiness. 
The Bible says, God is able to do exceeding abundantly 
above all we are able to ask or even to think. This 
will have its striking fulfilment in the future heights of 
bliss and glory to which He will raise his redeemed 
people. Oh, who can measure these heights of bliss 
and glory! Yet when you have fixed your eye upon 
their towering loftiness at any period along the track of 
endless ages, you have it to say then and there, This 
man's happiness is only begun. He has only just 
entered upon his everlasting progress in knowledge and 
in bliss. And still, so vast are his capacities at this 
remote period of his existence, that, if we could look 
into their amazing length and breadth and depth, and 
measure their magnitude, we should sink like dead men 
at the sight. See him drawing draughts of joy from 
God's own eternal fountains. Will he ever cease to 
quaff those draughts of joy? Never. Can they ever 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 55 

grow less ? Nay ; they must of necessity be forever 
increasing. 

Now see also the progress of the wicked. They, too, 
are moving onward. The law of progress cannot be 
arrested by any amount of sinning. Onward still their 
minds are progressing : more and more capacious for 
knowledge, and of course for sin and suffering. And 
Oh ! What then ? What follows from these established 
laws of the human mind and of human existence? Let 
your reflections trace out the fearful results which accrue 
from these laws of eternal progression. When we get 
into the midst of these things, the mind becomes ex- 
hausted and overpowered ; it sinks down and cries out 
with crushing emotion, Oh ! what an eternity is this 
for the sinner, lost forever ! ! Oh ! look upon that sinner 
after he has passed along through millions of ages of 
his unceasing progress in knowledge and in growing 
capacities for sin and suffering. Hear him. He says, 
Hell knew but little of sin and suffering when I came 
here, compared with what I suffer now! They all then 
sinned and suffered but little, even taken in the vast 
aggregate, compared with what I sin and suffer in my 
own single being now ! Alas, I seem to have all hell 
in my own bosom! I sin and suffer enough with my 
vastly augmented powers to make an awful hell even if 
these agonies were equally distributed among myriads 
of my fellow-beings. How awful ! ! Sin, misery, and ruin 
enough to make one awful hell, locked up in the agon- 
ized bosom of a single sinner! 

If this were only poetry I should be glad, but all is 
true, and so much more is true that no language can 



56 THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 

express it ; no modes of computation and no forms of 
estimate can reach its appalling magnitude. So much 
is true that to see the thousandth part of it must set 
your soul all on fire ! 

Take any sinner here — any young man or woman 
from this congregation. Follow him onward from this 
hour through a life of sinning, a death of darkness and 
horror, and then onward still as he rolls in the agonies 
of the second death, and moves onward, age after age, 
in the unceasing progress of a human mind expanding 
its intelligence, learning more and more of the God the 
sinner hates, and only hating Him forever the more, 
and only making himself the more immeasurably 
wretched by sinning with more bitter hate, and suffer- 
ing with still enlarged capacities as the eternal years 
roll on ! O young man ! you will one day be able to 
say, All that hell knew of suffering before I came here 
is nothing compared with what I now suffer. All is 
nothing to the aggregate of my sins and of my suffer- 
ings. And all I now endure is only a beginning. My 
miseries have only begun. This soul of mine has only 
begun to know how to suffer the real sufferings of the 
damned. Its keen sensitiveness to agony has only 
begun to develop itself. Yet at some period in the flow 
of those endless years of progression in sorrow, each 
one will say, If all the universe at the moment of my 
death had taxed their minds to the utmost to conceive 
the guilt and miseries that wring my heart, they could 
not even have begun to reach the appalling estimate ! 

Would to God this were only poetry! Alas, that it 
should be among the best established truths in the 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. $? 

universe of realities! Young man, there is no axiom 
in mathematics more true than this. No problem you 
ever solved in algebra brought out its result with more 
certainty ; no proposition of Euclid ever carried you 
more unerringly to its conclusions, than our reasoning 
upon these known and changeless laws of mind in their 
progression onward through the endless cycles of eter- 
nity. Go onward and still onward ; you must yet say, 
after ever so many periods of largest conception, I have 
only just begun. I am only entering the vestibule of 
this world of woe — only counting off the first moments, 
as it were, of the eternal cycles of my existence ! 

To pursue this train of thought in its details seems 
utterly impossible ! How the mind sinks beneath the 
overpowering view! Oh, the worth of the soul, pro- 
gressing forever under a law as fixed as, and as enduring 
as, Jehovah's throne! The worth of a soul that must 
make progress in knowledge, and consequently in its 
capacities for bliss and for holiness, or for sin and for 
woe — who can estimate it to the last fraction! Tell me, 
ye young men of mathematical genius — ye professors 
in this science of certainties — ye who think ye have 
some knowledge of fixed truths and some skill in 
educing them from first principles ; tell me, are these 
things poetry? You know they are eternal truth; you 
know they are verities, than which none in the universe 
can be more sure. "What, then, shall it profit a man, 
if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? " 

II. But what must be said of the danger of losing 
the soul! 

This danger is exceedingly great, because men have 



5 8 THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 

only to neglect the soul and it is surely lost. It does 
not require attention and labor. You can lose your 
soul without the least possible effort made specially for 
this purpose. You need not go about to commit sin 
in order to insure the ruin of your soul hopelessly and 
forever. You need only neglect its salvation and it is 
surely lost. You need only be as negligent as you have 
been heretofore. It is only necessary that you slide 
along in the same thoughtless, reckless manner as in 
your past days, and the end will be " sudden destruction, 
and that without remedy." As says the Apostle: 
" How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ? " " 
There is none other name under heaven given among \ 
men whereby ye can be saved. And there is no salva- 
tion through this name but by a living faith which 
works by love and makes the heart pure from sin. 

Men will lose their souls if they mistake the conditions 
of salvation. For these conditions require intelligent 
effort, and to misunderstand them makes it certain that 
your efforts will not be made intelligently, even if any 
sort of effort is made at all. There is, therefore, most 
imminent danger in this quarter. 

Again, there is the more danger because men are so lit- J 
tie inclined to inform themselves respecting those truths 
which relate to the conditions of salvation. It is a most 
astounding fact that, in matters so deeply interesting to 
every one who is to be saved or lost, no man should 
incline to search after the requisite knowledge of the 
way to be saved. 

There is also the more danger because men are sur- 
rounded with temptations to neglect the soul's salvation. 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 59 

It is the policy of Satan to surround men with as many 
temptations as possible to neglect this great subject. 
He gives them everything else to do ; sets their wits at 
work to kill time and devise amusing and diverting oc- 
cupations, and stave off all serious thought into some 
unknown future. Nothing delights or employs him 
more than to draw the sinner in and hold him fast in 
the snare of his infernal devices. 

Again, there is the more ground to fear because you 
are in so much danger of practising deception upon 
yourself, especially this deception, — that you can better 
attend to the saving of your soul at some other time. 
This is Satan's masterpiece of deception. It has fixed 
the doom of damnation upon myriads of souls. 

If I had time to enter upon these various dangers 
and expand them at length in view of the awfulness of 
losing the soul, how startling would be the fearful facts 
of the case ! If all these countless dangers were seen 
in their real magnitude, and especially if they were 
seen in their bearings upon the loss of a soul, methinks 
it would rouse all mankind into excitement almost to 
madness in securing the salvation of their souls. How 
could they refrain from crying out in the very streets, 
and within the very walls of their bedchambers, What 
shall I do to be saved from such a hell ? The danger 
is real, although due sensibility to it is so rare. We 
have it from the lips of one that knew — " Broad is the 
way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that 
go in thereat." And no fact is more open to observa- 
tion than this. Everybody sees it ; all may know it. 



6o THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 

III. What are the conditions of saving the sonl ? 

Here let it be well considered that the conditions are 
none of them arbitrary. All are naturally necessary. 
Each one is revealed as a condition, because, in the na- 
ture of the case, it is and must be. God requires it as a 
condition because He cannot save the soul without it. 
For example, you must be sanctified and become holy 
in heart and life. Why? Not because God sees fit 
arbitrarily to impose such a condition, but because it is 
impossible you should be happy without it; because it 
is impossible you should enjoy heaven, and therefore 
inadmissible that you should enter heaven, without 
holiness. 

So, also, you must be sanctified by faith in Christ, and 
saved in all respects by this faith, for the simple reason 
\ that no other agency can sanctify and save. There is 
none other name given among men whereby ye can be 
saved. No other Redeemer exists to be believed in; 
no other power but that of faith in such a Redeemer 
ever yet reached the heart to subdue it to submission, 
penitence, and love. 

REMARKS. 

I. There is nothing more wonderful and strange 
than the tendency of the human mind to neglect reflec- 
tion and serious thought upon the value of the soul. 
The entire orthodox world admit the truths upon which 
we started, and admit substantially those other truths 
which are necessarily connected with them. Now it is 
most astounding that these truths should be dropped 
out of mind — their bearings forgotten, and all their 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 6 1 

relations be overlooked as if they had no value, as if 
they were indeed only fictions and not facts. They are 
forgotten by parents, so that few indeed think of the 
bearings of these truths upon their children's well-being 
for eternity; they are forgotten by husbands and by 
wives, so that in these relations of life little is said, 
little felt, little done, for each other's salvation. In fact, 
these great truths have come to be less regarded than 
almost any one of the ten thousand things of this world. 
The least of these worldly matters is practically treated 
as of more value than the soul. Must there not be a 
strange delirium upon the human mind ? 

2. Nothing is so important to the Christian church 
and to the world as that the church should direct her 
attention to these great things till they arouse her 
whole soul ! — till they awaken from spiritual lethargy 
every member of Christ's nominal church on earth. 
The primitive Christians of apostolic times pondered 
these truths until their hearts were on fire, and they 
could not wish to do less than to lay themselves out 
for the salvation of the world. The same engrossing 
and soul-stirring attention to these great truths is 
needed to awaken the churches of the present day. 

3. As these great truths of the soul are neglected, 
worldly things magnify themselves in apparent import- 
ance. If men do not dwell upon eternity, time comes 
to be their only reality. If they do not dwell upon the 
great spiritual truths that relate to the eternal world, to 
heaven and to hell; if they do not pour their minds out 
upon these truths, the trifles of time will assume the 
chief importance. Men will become worldly-minded. 



62 THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 

Their minds become contracted, in the scope of their 
views, to the narrow circle of their earthly relations, 
and they come to live as if there were no God, no 
heaven, no hell. 

4. You may see the nature of worldly-mindedness. 
It is real insanity. Suppose a man to act as if he had 
no relations to this world. Suppose he should act as 
if he had no more to do with it than most men seem 
to have with the other world beyond this. Let him act 
as if he had no bodily wants — no occasion for food or 
for clothing. Of course he would be regarded as a mad- 
man; his friends, or, if not they, the civil authorities, 
would hasten to put him in a madhouse. They would 
sue out a commission of lunacy against him, to save his 
property, if he had any, for the benefit of himself and 
his family. For precisely this is real insanity — over- 
looking real facts and acting as if they did not exist. 

But what shall we say of those who treat these truths 
of eternity as if they were not truths ? Is not this also 
real insanity? The man knows the great facts respecting 
the future world. He has a book well authenticated, 
containing all the facts, fully revealed; he holds all the 
important facts with the utmost tenacity, and would 
deem himself slandered as a heretic if you were to 
intimate a doubt of the soundness of his faith; in fact, 
his orthodoxy is his pride and his glory; — but yet lie 
lives as if he did not believe a word of it. Surely this 
man is practically insane. You cannot but regard such 
a case with horror. Oh ! you say, if he had never 
known these things, he would not have incurred the 
guilt of this dreadful insanity; but, alas! he does know 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 63 

them all. He has them all written down; — all are 
embraced in the standards of his faith, and he would 
not be supposed to doubt one word of those standards 
for the value of his best reputation. Then is he not 
insane ? Alas, the world is a complete bedlam ! See 
their manuals of doctrines; read carefully their stand- 
ards, and see what they believe; then see how they live 
— as if there were no heaven and no hell; no atone- 
ment, no Saviour; — nothing but this world and its good 
things ! And are they not madmen ? Does the Bible 
slander them at all when it declares, "Madness is in 
their heart while they live, and after that they go to 
the dead"? 

5. How must the people of other worlds look upon 
the men of this! Particularly, I ask, how must they 
regard those who live in those portions of our world 
where light blazes and every eye must see it? How 
are they astonished in heaven to see such exhibi- 
tions of depravity on earth ! How must they look 
on with unutterable amazement as they mark the clear 
and blazing light which God pours upon the realities 
of the eternal world, and then observe how little this 
light is regarded even by those who see it most and 
best! 

6. How many are struggling to secure anything 
and every thing else but the salvation of the soul! And 
yet they know that every thing else gained is worse 
than loss if the soul is lost. What egregious folly! 
And, what is more, think of the appalling guilt! and 
of the coming account to be rendered for both the guilt 
and the folly! God will call you all to account — you 



64 THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 

for the property you sought to the neglect of your 
soul, and chose at the cost of ruining your soul; — and 
you for the education which you valued more than the 
salvation of your soul. What, young man, do you 
propose to do with that education which you have put 
before your soul and sought to the neglect and ruin of 
your eternal being? You may enter the eternal world 
an educated young man — with all your powers de- 
veloped and matured, so that you can take your posi- 
tion in that world of woe in an advanced class: as 
some young men come here prepared to enter in ad- 
vance — as far perhaps as the junior year, so you, by 
virtue of your education, may enter among the more 
advanced minds in hell, ripe for drinking deeper 
draughts of remorse, your intellect enlarged for broader 
views of your relations, and sharpened for keener im- 
pressions of your fearful guilt! Oh what must it be to 
take your starting-point in that world of agonizing 
thought, in advance of your age and your time, ready 
to start off with more rapid strides in the dread career 
of progression in the knowledge — in the sinning — and 
in the consequent woes of the damned ! Take such a 
mind as Byron's. How much more is he capable of 
suffering in one hour on his death-bed than a mind of 
only ordinary capacity! Sit down by his death-bed; 
mark his rolling eye — his look of agony— the reach and 
grasp of his capacious soul ! See how keenly he feels 
every sensation of remorse — how large his scope of 
view as he thinks of his relations to the God he should 
have loved but did not, and to the world he should 
have blessed by his talents but only cursed by his de- 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 65 

pravity! You may have often said, If I were only as 
great and as talented as Byron; if I only had his power 
as a poet — his genius — his talent — how glorious! I 
could ask nothing more. 

You would then be as great as Byron ! But what 
then? Suppose you were; what would you gain? 
What would it profit you to gain all he ever gained of 
mental power, or earthly fame, and to lose your soul? 
Oh think of this; to be a Byron and to lose your soul! 
Would this be gain? Could you afford to devote your 
being to such an object, and having gained it, die and 
go to hell? 

Or suppose you aspire to be a statesman. You 
climb the slow ascent of office; you rise in the confi- 
dence of your party, till step by step you ascend the 
tall acclivity, and see the summit of ambition only a 
little way before you: then down you go to hell! How 
much have you gained, even if you have reached the 
glittering summit, and then lose your soul? 

7. In the eternal world there will be an entire re- 
versal of position; the highest here are lowest there, 
and the lowest here are the most favored or certainly 
the least accursed there. The kings of the earth, high- 
est on their thrones, will have the largest account to 
settle there, the heaviest responsibilities to bear, and of 
course the most fearful doom. Here he sits in grand 
and lofty state; the subject must kneel before him to 
present even a petition; but death reverses the scene. 
Let this king on his throne but die in his sins: he 
tumbles from his rotten throne to the depths' of hell ! 
Where does he go? What is his position among the 



66 THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 

ranks of the lost? Down, deep in the lowest depths 
of perdition. Here his princely steeds and outriding 
footmen gave him the eclat of nobility; but if he 
abused his dignity to the feeding of earthly pride and 
to the crushing of the poor, he sinks deep below those 
once so far benea.th him. Now they mark his fall like 
Lucifer, son of morning. Now perhaps they hiss 
at him, and curse him, saying, How art thou fallen 
from the throne of thy glory! And thou art here, 
down deep in the infamy of hell ! Thou wretch ! How 
they hiss at all kjs plagues! The very fires of hell roar 
and hiss at him as he sinks beneath their wild engulf- 
ing billows. So the great ones of any country who sell 
their souls for ambition and earthly power: what have 
they gained? An office — it may be, a crown; but 
they have lost a soul! Alas! where are they now? 
The most miserably guilty and wretched among all the 
wretched ones of hell ! Hear what they say as they 
go down wailing along the sides of the pit! "So much 
for the folly of selling my soul for a bubble of vanity ! 
For an hour I sought and chose to be exalted; how 
fearfully do I sink now, and sink forever! Oh the con- 
trast of earth and hell ! " Hark! what do they say? 
The man clothed in purple and fine linen lifts up his 
eyes in hell, being in torments; he sees Abraham afar 
off, and Lazarus, that old ulcerated beggar, is now in 
his bosom; and what does he say? He cries aloud, 
"Father Abraham, I pray thee send Lazarus to me; 
let him dip only the tip of his finger in water and put 
it on my tongue; I can do without my golden cup; 
that's gone forever now; but let Lazarus come with 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 67 

his finger dipped in water and cool my tongue; for I 
am tormented in this flame." 

But what is the answer to this agonizing prayer? 
Son, thou hast had thy good things, all of them, to the 
last dregs; and Lazarus all his evil things; now he is 
comforted and thou art tormented. 

Let this illustrate what I mean in speaking of the 
wide but righteous contrast between the state of souls 
in time and in eternity; the strange reversal of condi- 
tion, by which the lowest here become highest there, 
and the highest here become the lowest there. 

8. Men really intend to secure both this world and 
salvation. They never suppose it wise to lose their 
own soul. Nor do they think to gain anything by 
running the risk of losing it. Indeed, they do not 
mean to run any great risks — only a little, the least 
they can conveniently make it, and yet gain a large 
measure of earthly good. But in attempting to get 
the world, they lose their souls. God told them they 
would, but they did not believe Him. Rushing on the 
fearful venture and assuming to be wiser than God, 
they grasped the world to get it first, thinking to get 
heaven afterwards; thus they tempted the Spirit; pro- 
voked God to forsake them; lost their day of salvation 
and lost all the world besides. How infinitely just 
and right is their reward ! Why did they not believe 
God? Every one of them knew that being saved 
through Christ, he would be infinitely rich, and being 
lost, he would make himself infinitely poor; and yet 
he rushed upon the fatal venture, and went down, de- 
spite of grace, to an eternal hell ! 



68 THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 

9. What is really worth living for but to save souls? 
You may think it is worth living for to be a judge or a 
senator — but is it ? Is it, if the price must be the loss 
of your soul? How many of our American Presidents 
have died as you would wish to die? If you should 
live to gain the object of your ambition, what would 
be your chance of saving your soul? The world being 
what it is, and the temptations incident to office and 
worldly honors being as they are, how great would be 
your prospect of saving your souls ? Would it be wise 
for you to run the hazard ? 

What else would you live for than to save souls? 
Would you not rather save souls than be President of 
this Union? "He that winneth souls is wise." "They 
that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars 
forever." Will this be the case with the ungodly 
Presidents who die in their sins ? 

What do you purpose to do, young man, or young 
woman, with your education? Have you any higher 
or nobler object to live for than to save souls ? Have 
you any more worthy object upon which to expend 
the resources of a cultivated mind and the accumulated 
powers gained by education? Think — what should I 
live for but the gems of heaven — for what but the 
honor of Jesus, my Master? 

They who do not practically make the salvation of 
souls — their own and others, — their chief concern, de- 
serve not the name of rational; they are not sane. 
Look at their course of practical life as compared with 
their knowledge of facts. Are they sane, or are they 
deranged ? 



THE LOSS WHEN A SOUL IS LOST. 69 

It is time for the church to consecrate her mind and 
her whole heart to this subject. It is indeed time that 
she should lay these great truths in all their burning 
power close to her heart. Alas , how is her soul pal- 
sied with the spirit of the world ! Nothing can save 
her and restore her to spiritual life until she brings her 
mind and heart into burning contact with these living, 
energizing truths of eternity. The church of our times 
needs the apostolic spirit. She needs so deep a bap- 
tism with those fires of the Holy Ghost that she can 
go out and set the world on fire by her zeal for the 
souls of men. Till then the generation of our race 
must go on, thronging the broad way to hell because 
no man cares for their souls. 



IV. 
GOD'S ANGER AGAINST THE WICKED. 



"God is angry with the wicked every day." — Psalms vii. n. 

IN speaking from this text I design to show briefly: 
I. Who are " wicked" in the Scripture sense 

OF THIS TERM; 

II. That God is angry with them; 

III. The nature of this anger; 

IV. The reasons for it; 
V. Its degree; 

VI. Its duration; 

VII. The terrible condition of sinners under 
it. 

/. The Bible divides all the human race into two 
classes only, — the righteous and the wicked. Those 
are righteous who have true faith in Christ, whose 
spirit is consecrated to God, who live a heavenly life 
on earth, and who have been renewed by the Holy 
Ghost. Their original selfishness is subdued and slain, 
and they live a new life through the ever-present grace 
of Christ Jesus. 

Right over against them in character are the wicked, 
who have not been renewed in heart; who live in self- 
ishness, under the dominion of appetite in some of its 
forms, — and it matters not in which, out of all possible 



god's anger against the wicked. yi 

forms, it may be, but self is the great and only ulti- 
mate end of their life. These are, in the scriptural 
sense, the wicked. 

II. God is angry with the wicked. Our text ex- 
plicitly affirms this. The same truth is affirmed and 
implied in numerous other passages. Let the sinner 
remember that this is the testimony of God Himself. 
Who should better know the feelings of God towards 
sinners than God Himself does ? Who on this point 
can gainsay what God affirms ? 

But this truth is also taught by reason. Every man 
in the exercise of his reason knows it ought to be true. 
If God were not opposed to the wicked, He would be 
wicked Himself for not opposing them. What would 
you think of a judge who did not hate and oppose law- 
breakers ? Would you think him an honest man if he 
did not take sides against transgressors ? Everybody 
knows that this is the dictate of reason and of common 
sense. Sinners know this, and always assume it in 
their practical judgments. They know that God is 
angry with them, and ought to be — though they may 
not realize it. Sinners know many things which they 
do not realize. For instance, you who are in sin know 
that you must die; but you have more reason to be 
assured that God is angry with you than you have to 
be sure that you must die; for it is not necessarily so 
certain that you will die as it is that God is angry with 
you for your sin. God may possibly translate you 
from this world to another without your death, as He 
has some others; but there never was, and never can 
be, any exception to the universal law of his anger 



72 GOD S ANGER AGAINST THE WICKED. 

against all the wicked. You know this, therefore, with 
an absolute certainty, which precludes all possibility of 
rational doubt. 

Sinners do know this, as I have said, and always 
assume it in their practical judgments. Else why are 
they afraid to die ? why afraid to meet God face to 
face in the world of retribution ? Would they have 
this fear if they did not know that God is angry with 
them for their sin ? It would be gratuitous, therefore, 
to prove this truth to the sinner. He already knows 
it — knows it not only as a thing that is, but as what 
ought to be. 

III. The nature of this anger demands our atten- 
tion. On this point it js important to notice nega- 
tively, 

1. It is not a malicious anger. God is never mali- 
cious; never has a disposition to do any wrong in any 
way to any being. He is infinitely far from such feel- 
ings, and from any such developments of anger. 

2. His anger is not passion in the sense in which 
men are wont to exhibit passion in anger. You may 
often have seen men whose sensibility is lashed into 
fury under an excitement of anger; their very souls 
seem to be boiling with fermentation, so intense is 
their excitement. Reason for the time is displaced, 
and passion reigns. Now God is never angry in such 
a way. His anger against the wicked involves no such 
excitement of passion. . 

3. God's anger cannot be in any sense a selfish 
anger; for God is not selfish in the least degree, but 
infinitely the reverse of it. Of course his anger against 



god's anger against the wicked. 73 

the wicked must be entirely devoid of selfishness. 

But positively his anger against the wicked implies, 
i. An entire disapprobation of their conduct and 

character. He disapproves most intensely and utterly 

every thing in either their heart or their life. He 

loathes the wicked with infinite loathing. 

2. He feels the strongest opposition of will to their 
character. It is so utterly opposed to his own charac- 
ter and to his own views of right that his will arrays 
itself in the strongest form of opposition against it. 

3. God's anger involves also strong opposition of 
feeling against sinners. Undoubtedly God must have 
feelings of anger against the wicked. We cannot sup- 
pose it possible that God should behold sin without 
feelings of anger. 

In our attempts to conceive of the mental faculties 
of the divine mind, we are under a sort of necessity of 
reasoning analogically from our own minds. Revela- 
tion has told us that we are " made in the image of 
God." Of course the mind of God is the antitype from 
which ours was cast. The great constituent elements 
of mind, we must suppose, are therefore alike in both 
the infinite and the finite. As we have intellect, sensi- 
bility, and will, so has God. 

From our own minds, moreover, we infer not only 
what the faculties of the divine mind are, but also the 
laws under which they act. We know that in the 
presence of certain objects we naturally feel strong op- 
position. Those objects are so related to our sensi- 
bility that anger and indignation are the natural result. 
We could not act according to the fixed laws of our 
4 



74 GOD S ANGER AGAINST THE WICKED. 

own minds if we did not utterly disapprove wrong-do- 
ing, and if our disapproval of it, moreover, did not 
awaken some real sensibility in the form of displeasure 
and indignation against the wrong-doer. 

Some suppose that these results of the excited sensi- 
bility against wrong would not develop themselves if 
our hearts were right. This is a great mistake. The 
nearer right our hearts are, the more certainly shall we 
disapprove wrong, the more intensely shall we feel op- 
posed to it, and the greater will be our displeasure 
against the wrong-doer. . Hence we must not only 
suppose that God is angry in the sense of a will op- 
posed to sin, but in the further sense of a sensibility 
enkindled against it. This must be the case if God is 
truly a moral agent. 

4. God is not angry merely against the sin ab- 
stracted from the sinner, but against the sinner him- 
self. Some persons have labored hard to set up this 
ridiculous and absurd abstraction, and would fain make 
it appear that God is angry at the sin, yet not at the 
sinner. He hates the theft, but loves the thief. He 
abhors adultery, but ; s pleaseJ with the adulterer. 
Now this is supreme nonsense. The sin has no moral 
character apart from the static The act is nothing 
apart from the actor. The very *-hing that God hates 
and disapproves is not the mere event — the thing done 
in distinction from the doer; but it is the doer himself. 
It grieves and displeases Him that a rational moral 
agent, under his government, should array himself 
against his own God and Father, against all that is 
right and just in the universe. This is the thing that 



god's anger against the wicked. 75 

offends God. The sinner himself is the direct and the 
only object of his anger. 

So the Bible shows. God is angry with the wicked, 
not with the abstract sin. If the wicked turn not, God 
will whet his sword, — he hath bent his bow and made 
it ready, — not to shoot the sin, however, but the sinner 
— the wicked man who has done the abominable thing. 
This is the only doctrine of either the Bible or of com- 
mon sense on this subject. 

5. The anger of God against the wicked implies all 
that properly belongs to anger when it exists with good 
reason. We know by our own experience that when 
we are angry with good reason, we have strong oppo- 
sition of will, and also strong feelings of displeasure 
and disapprobation, against wrong-doers. Hence we 
may infer that under the same circumstances the same 
is true of God. 

IV. The REASONS of God's anger against the 
wicked next demand our attention. His anger is never 
excited without good reasons. Causeless anger is al- 
ways sinful. " Whoever is angry with his brother 
without a cause is in danger of the judgment." God 
never Himself violates his own laws — founded as they 
are in infinite right and justice. Hence God's anger 
always has good reasons. 

Good reasons exist for his anger, and He is angry 
for those reasons. It is not uncommon for persons to 
be angry, under circumstances, too, which are good 
reasons for anger, but still they are not angry for those 
good reasons, but for other reasons which are not good. 
For example, every sinner has good reasons for being 



76 god's anger against the wicked. 

angry with every other sinner for his" wickedness against 
God. But sinners are not angry against other sinners 
Tor those reasons. Although these reasons actually 
exist, yet when angry at sinners, it is not for these 
good reasons, but for some selfish reasons, which are 
not good. This is a common case. You see persons 
angry, and if you reprove them for their anger as sin- 
ful, they seek to justify themselves by affirming that 
they are angry with the man for his sins — for his 
wrong-doing against God. Now this is indeed a good 
and sufficient reason for anger, and the justification 
would be a good one if the anger were really excited by 
this cause. But often, although this reason exists, and 
is pleaded by the man as his excuse for anger, yet it is 
no excuse, for, in fact, he is not angry for this cause, 
but has some selfish reason for his anger. Not so with 
God. God is angry with the wicked, not irrespective 
of his sins, but for his sins. 

i. Wicked men are entirely unreasonable. Their 
conduct is at war with all reason and with all right. 
God has given them intelligence and conscience; but 
they act in opposition to both. God has given them 
a pure and good law, yet this they recklessly violate. 
Hence their conduct is in every point of view utterly 
unreasonable. 

Now we all know that, by a fixed law of our being, 
nothing can be a greater temptation to anger than to 
see persons act unreasonably. This is one of the 
greatest trials that can occur, and one of the strongest 
incentives to anger. So when God looks at the unrea- 
sonable conduct of sinners, he feels the strongest indig- 



god's anger against the wicked. J J 

nation and displeasure. If they were not rational be- 
ings endowed with reason, no anger would be awak- 
ened and called forth. But since God knows them to 
be endowed with reason, and to be capable of true and 
noble-hearted obedience, he cannot fail of being dis- 
pleased with their transgression. 

2. The course of the wicked is utterly ruinous. No 
thanks to the sinner if his influence does not ruin the 
whole world. By the very laws of mind, the sin of any 
one man tends to influence other men to sin, and they 
spread far and wide the dreadful contagion of his ex- 
ample. It may truly be said that the sinner does the 
worst thing possible to him to ruin the universe. He 
sets the example of rebellion against the supreme gov- 
ernment of all worlds. And what influence can be 
more potent than that of example ? What worse thing, 
therefore, can the sinner do to destroy all good than 
he is doing by his sin ? No thanks to him if every 
man who sees his sin does not imitate it to his own 
ruin, and throw the power of his own example broad- 
cast over all his associates. No thanks to any sinner 
if his own influence for ruin does not run like fire on 
the prairies, over all the world, and then over every 
other world of moral beings in the universe of God. 

Think of the father of a family, living in his sins and 
exerting his great influence over his household to make 
them all as wicked as himself. Who can estimate the 
power of his influence over his wife and his children ? 
Does he pray with them and seek to lead them to God ? 
No; his example is prayerless. It proclaims every day 
to his family, "You have no occasion at all to pray. 



78 god's anger against the wicked. 

You see I can live without prayer." Does he read the 
Bible to them or with them ? No; his constant exam- 
ple before them sets the Bible at naught, and continu- 
ally suggests that they will be as well off without read- 
ing the Bible as with. His whole influence, therefore, 
is ruinous to the souls of his family. No thanks to 
him, if they do not all go down to hell along with him- 
self. If they do not scream around him with yells of 
mingled imprecation and despair, cursing him as the 
guilty author of their ruin, he will have other agencies 
to thank besides his own. Surely he has done what 
he well could do to secure results so dreadful as these. 
Has not God good reason to be angry with him ? Why 
not ? Would not you feel that you have good reasons 
to be angry with a man who should come into your 
family to destroy its peace — to seduce your wife and 
daughters, and to entice your sons into some pathway 
of crime and ruin ? Certainly you would. Now do 
not all families belong to God in a far higher sense 
than any man's family belong to him ? Why, then, 
has not God as good reasons for anger against a wicked 
father as you could have against a villain who should 
plot and seek to effect the mischief and ruin of your 
family ? Is it wonderful to you that God should be 
angry with every wicked father ? Just consider what 
that father is doing by his bare example — even sup- 
posing that his words are well-guarded and not partic- 
ularly liable to objection. Who does not know that 
example is the very highest and strongest moral power? 
It does not need the help of teaching to make its 
power felt for terrible mischief. The prayerless hus- 



god's anger against the wicked. 79 

band and father! The devil could not do worse — nay, 
more, not so bad; for the devil never had mercy offered 
him, never stood related as this wicked father does, to 
offered pardon and to the glorious gospel. If, then, 
God would have good reason to be angry at the devil, 
much more has he for anger against this wicked father. 

The same substantially is true of other classes of 
sinners. It is essential to their very course as sinners, 
that they are in rebellion against God, and are doing 
the very worst thing in the universe by drawing other 
moral beings into sin. 

3. Again, God is so good and sinners are so wicked, 
He cannot help being angry at them. If He were not 
angry at the wicked, He would be as much worse than 
they as He is wiser than they. Since, in his wisdom 
and knowledge, He knows more fully than they do the 
great evil of sin, by so much the more is He under 
obligation to be displeased with sin and angry at the 
sinner. We sometimes hear men say, "God is too 
good to be angry at sinners." What do men mean by 
this language ? Do they mean that God is too good 
to be opposed to z 11 evil ? too good to be displeased 
with all evil-doers ? This v. r ere indeed a strange good- 
ness ! God too goo<J tc hate sin — too good to oppose 
sinners ! What sort of £:>:>Jness can this be ? 

I have sometimes heard men s?y that if God should 
be angry with sinners, he would be as bad as the devil 
himself. Now this is not only horrible language on the 
score of its blasphemy, but it is monstrous absurdity 
on the score of its logic. The amount of its logic is 
that God would be himself wicked if He should be dis- 



80 god's anger against the wicked. 

pleased at wickedness. So wrong it must be to hate 
the wrong-doer ! ! Pray, who is it that holds such doc- 
trine ? Is it not possible that they feel some interest 
in sustaining wrong-doers even against God Himself? 

Really there is no force, no plausibility even, in this 
language about the wrong of God's being angry at sin- 
ners, except what arises from misconceiving and mis- 
representing the true idea of the divine anger in this 
case. If God's anger were in itself sinful — as is the 
case often with man's anger — then, of course, nothing 
more can be said in its vindication. But since his an- 
ger is never sinful, never selfish, never malicious, never 
unholy or wrong in any degree whatever, nothing can 
be more false, nothing more sophistical, nothing more 
ungenerous and vile and Satanic, than to imply that it 
is. But this is just what men do when they say that 
for God to be angry at sinners is to be Himself wicked. 

The true view of this case is not by any means ab- 
struse or difficult of apprehension. Who does not 
know that good men are, by virtue of their goodness, 
opposed to wicked men ? Surely all wicked men know 
this well enough. Else why the fear they have of good 
and law-abiding men ? Why do all horse-thieves and 
counterfeiters keep dark from good men, — dread their 
presence, — commonly feel a strong dislike to them, 
and always dread their influence as hostile to their own 
wicked schemes ? 

So wicked men feel towards God. They know that 
his goodness places Him in hostile array against them- 
selves. This fact seems to be implied in the Psalmist's 
expostulation, ''Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, 



GODS ANGER AGAINST THE WICKED. 8 1 

O mighty man ? The goodness of God endureth con- 
tinually." God is always good; how can you be proud 
of your wickedness ? God is too good and too con- 
stantly good to afford you any scope for sin, any 
ground of hope for peace with Him in your iniquity. 

V. The degree of God ' s anger against sin should 
be next considered. It is plain that the degree of God's 
anger against the wicked ought to be equal to the de- 
gree of their wickedness, and must be if God is what 
He should be. The times of heathen ignorance and 
darkness "God winked at;" the degree of their guilt 
being less, by as much as their light is less, than that 
of such cities as Chorazin and Bethsaida. God does 
not hold them innocent absolutely ; but relatively they 
might almost be called innocent, compared with the 
great guilt of sinners in gospel lands. Against those 
who sin amidst the clearest light, his anger must burn 
most intensely; for example, against sinners in this place 
and congregation. You may be outwardly a decent 
and moral man, respected and beloved by your friends; 
but if you are a selfish, impenitent sinner, the pure and 
holy God loathes and abhors you. He sees more real 
guilt in you than in ten thousand of those dark-minded 
heathen who are bowing down to idol gods, and whose 
crimes you read of with loathing and disgust. Think 
of it. God may be more angry against you for your 
great wickedness than against a nation of idolators 
whose ignorance He winks at, while He measures your 
light and consequent guilt in the balances of his own 
eternal justice. Oh ! are you living here amid the 
blazing sunlight of truth; knowing your duty every 
4* 



82 god's anger against the wicked. 

day and every day refusing to do it; do you not know 
that in the eye of God you are one of the wickedest 
beings out of hell, or in hell, either, and that God's 
hatred against your sin is equal to your great guilt ? 
But you say perhaps, Am I not moral and honest? 
Suppose you are moral. For whose sake are you moral, 
and for what reason ? Is it not for your reputation's 
sake only ? The devil might be as moral for such a 
purpose as you are. Mark, it is not for God's sake, — 
not for Christ's sake, — that you are a moral man, but 
because you love yourself. You might be just as 
moral if there were no God, or if you were an atheist. 
Of course if so, you are saying in your heart, Let there 
be no fear of God before my eyes, no love of God in 
my heart. Let me live, and have my own way, as if 
there were no God. And all this you do, not under 
the darkness of heathenism, but amid the broadest 
sunlight of heaven's truth blazing all around you. Do 
you still ask, What have I done ? You have arrayed 
yourself against God, rejected the gospel of his Son, 
and done despite to the Spirit of his grace. What 
heathen has ever done this, or anything that could 
compare with this in guilt ? The vilest heathen people 
that ever wallowed in the filth of their own abomina- 
tions are pure compared with you. Do you start back 
and rebel against this view of your case ? Then let us 
ask again, By what rule are we to estimate guilt ? You 
pass along the street and you see the lower animals 
doing what you would be horrified to see human beings 
do, but you never think of them as guilty. You see 
those dogs try to tear each other to pieces; you will 



god's anger against the wicked. 83 

perhaps try to part them; but you will not think of 
feeling moral indignation or moral displeasure against 
them; and why ? Because you instinctively judge of 
their guilt by their light, and by their capacity for 
governing themselves by light and reason. On nearly 
the same principle you might see the heathen reeking 
in their abominations, quarrelling, and practising the 
most loathsome forms of vice and selfishness; but their 
guilt is only a glimmering taper compared with yours, 
and therefore you cannot but estimate their guilt as by 
so much less than your own as their light is less ! 
Your reason demands that you should estimate guilt 
on this principle, and you know that you cannot rightly 
estimate it on any other. For the very same reason 
you must conclude that God estimates guilt on the 
same principles, and that his anger against sin is in 
proportion to the sinner's guilt, estimated in view of 
the light he enjoys and sins against. The degree of 
God's anger against the wicked is not measured by 
their outward conduct, but by their real guilt as seen 
by Him whose eye is on the heart. 

VI. As to the duration of God 's anger against the 
wicked, it manifestly must continue as long as the 
wickedness itself continues. As long as wicked men 
continue wicked, so long must God be angry at them 
every day. If they turn not, there can be no abate- 
ment, no cessation, of his anger. This is so plain that 
everybody must know it. 

VII. The terrible condition of the sinner against 
whom God is angry. 

This dreadful truth that God is angry with the 



84 god's anger against the wicked. 

wicked every day, sinners know, but do not realize. 
Yet it were well for you who are sinners to apprehend 
and estimate this just as it is. 

Look then at the attributes of God. Who and what 
is God ? Is He not a Being whose wrath against you 
is to be dreaded ? You often feel that it is a terrible 
thing to incur the displeasure of some men. Children 
are often exceedingly afraid of the anger of their par- 
ents. Any child has reason to feel that it is a terrible 
state of things, when he has done wrong and knows 
it must come to the knowledge of his father and his 
mother, and must arouse their keenest displeasure 
against himself — this is terrible, and no wonder a child 
should dread it. How much more has the sinner rea- 
son to fear and tremble when by his sin he has made 
the Almighty God his enemy ! Think of his state ! 
Think of the case of the sinner's exposing himself to 
the indignation of the great and dreadful God ! Look 
at God's natural attributes. Who can measure the 
extent of his power ? Who or what can resist his 
will ? He taketh up the isles as a very little thing, 
and the nations before Him are only as the small dust 
of the balance. When his wrath is kindled, who can 
stand before it, or stay its dreadful fury ? 

Think also of his omniscience. He knows all you 
have done. Every act has passed underneath his eye; 
and not every external act, merely, but, what is far 
more dreadful to you, every motive lying back of every 
act — all the most hidden workings of your heart. Oh, 
if you were only dealing with some one whom you 
could deceive, how would you set yourself at work to 



god's anger against the wicked. 85 

plan some deep scheme of deception ! But all in vain 
here, for God knows it all. If it were a case between 
yourself and some human tribunal, you might cover up 
many things; you might perjure yourself; or might 
smuggle away the dreaded witnesses; but before God, 
no such measures can avail you for one moment. The 
whole truth will come out, dread its disclosure as much 
as you may. The darkness and the light are both 
alike to Him, and nothing can be hidden from his eye. 

Again, not only does God know every thing you 
have done, and not only is He abundantly able to pun- 
ish you, but He is as much disposed as He is able, or 
omniscient. You will find He has no disposition to 
overlook your guilt. He is so good that He never can 
let sin unrepented of pass unnoticed and unpunished. 
It would be an infinite wrong to the universe if He 
should ! If He were to do it, He would at once cease 
to be a good and holy God ! 

O sinner ! do you ever think of God's perfect holi- 
ness, the infinite purity of his heart ? Do you ever 
think how intensely strong must be his opposition to 
your sin ? to those sins of yours, which are so bad even 
in your own view that you cannot J?ear to have many 
of your fellow-men know them ? How do you sup- 
pose your guilty soul appears in the eye of the pure 
and holy God ? 

You often hear of God's mercy. You hope for some 
good to yourself, perhaps, from this attribute of his 
nature. Ah ! if you had not spurned it, and trampled 
it under your feet; if you had not slighted and abused 
its manifestations to you, it might befriend you in your 



86 god's anger against the wicked. 

day of need. But ah, how can you meet insulted 
mercy ! What can you say for yourself in defence for 
having sinned against the richest mercy the world ever 
saw ? Can you hope that God's injured mercy will 
befriend you ? Nay, verily; God has not one attribute 
which is not armed against you. Such is his nature, 
and such his character, that you have nothing to hope, 
but everything to fear. His dreadful anger against you 
must be expressed. He may withhold its expression 
for a season, to give the utmost scope for efforts to 
reclaim and save you. But when these efforts shall 
have tailed, then will not justice take her course ? 
Will not insulted Majesty utter her awful voice ? Will 
not the infinite God arise in his awful purity, and pro- 
claim, "I hate all wickedness, my anger burns against 
the sinner to the lowest hell" ? Will not Jehovah take 
measures to make his true position towards sinners 
known ? 

REMARKS. 

i. God is much more opposed to sinners than Satan 
is. Doubtless this must be so, for Satan has no spe- 
cial reason for being opposed to sinners. They are 
doing his work veuy much as he would have them. 
We have no evidence that Satan is displeased with their 
course. But God is displeased with them, and for the 
best of reasons. 

Men sometimes say, If God is angry with the wicked, 
He is worse than Satan. They seem to think that 
Satan is a liberal, generous-hearted being. They are 
rather disposed to commend him as, on the whole, 
very charitable and noble-hearted. They may think 



god's anger against the wicked. %7 

that Satan is bad enough, but they cannot be recon- 
ciled to it that God should be so hard on sinners. 

Now the facts are that God is too good to be other- 
wise than angry with sinners. The devil is so bad 
himself that he finds no difficulty in being well enough 
pleased with their vileness: it does not offend him. 
Hence, from his very nature, God must hate the sinner 
infinitely more than Satan does. 

2. If God were not angry with sinners, he would 
not be worthy of confidence. What would you think 
of a civil governor who should manifest no indignation 
against transgressors of the law? You would say, of 
course, that he had not the good of the community at 
heart, and you could have no confidence in him. 

3. God's anger with sinners is not inconsistent with 
his happiness. Why should it be, if it is not inconsistent 
with his holiness? If there were anything wrong about it, 
then it would indeed destroy all his happiness; but if 
it be intrinsically right, then it not only cannot destroy 
his happiness, but He could not be happy without an- 
ger against the wicked. His happiness must be con- 
ditioned upon his acting and feeling in accordance with 
the reality of things. Hence, if God did not hate sin 
and did not manifest his hatred in all proper ways, He 
could not respect Himself; He could not retire 
within the great deep of his own nature, and enjoy 
eternal bliss in the consciousness of infinite rectitude. 

4. God's opposition to sinners is his glory. It is 
all-glorious to God to manifest his anger towards 
wicked men and devils. Is not this the fact with all 
good rulers? Do they not seize every opportunity to 



88 god's anger against the wicked. 

manifest their opposition to the wicked, and is not this 
their real glory ? Do we not account it their glory to 
be zealous and efficient in detecting crime? Most cer- 
tainly. They can have no other real glory. But sup- 
pose a ruler should sympathize with murderers, thieves, 
robbers. We should execrate his very name! 

5. Saints love God for his opposition to sinners, 
not excepting even his opposition to their own sins. 
They could not have confidence in Him if He did not 
oppose their own sins, and it is not in their hearts to 
ask Him to favor even their own iniquities.' No ; 
where they come near Him, and see how He is op- 
posed to their own sins, and to them on account of 
them, they honor Him and adore Him the more. 
They do not want any being in the universe to connive 
at their own sins, or to take any other stand toward 
themselves as sinners, than that of opposition. 

6. This text is to be understood as it reads. Its 
language is to be taken in its obvious sense. Some 
have supposed that God is not really angry with sin- 
ners, but uses this language in accommodation to our 
understandings. 

This is an unwarrantable latitude of interpretation. 
Suppose we should apply the same principle to what 
is said of God's love. When we read, "God so loved 
the world as to give his only begotten Son," suppose 
we say, this cannot mean real love, such as we feel for 
each other — no, nothing like this; the language is only 
used by way of accommodation, and really has no par- 
ticular sense whatever. This sort of interpretation 
.would destroy the Bible, or any other book ever writ- 



god's anger against the wicked. 89 

ten. The only sound view of this matter is that God 
speaks as sensible men do — to be understood by the 
reader and hearer, and of course uses language in its 
most obvious sense. If He says He is angry against 
the wicked, we must suppose that He really is. 

It is indeed true that we are to qualify the language, 
as I have already shown, by what we absolutely know 
of his real character, and therefore hence infer that this 
language cannot imply malicious anger, or selfish anger, 
or any forms of anger inconsistent with infinite benev- 
olence. But having made the necessary qualifications, 
there are no more to be made, and the cardinal idea of 
anger still remains — a fixed eternal displeasure and op- 
position against all simiers because of their great guilt. 

7. God's anger against the sinner does not exclude 
love — rreal, compassionate love; not, however, the love 
of complacency, but the love of well-wishing and good- 
willing; not the love of him as a sinner, but the love 
for him as a sentient being, who might be infinitely 
happy in obedience to his God. This is undoubtedly 
the true view to be taken of God's attitude towards 
sinners. What parent does not know what this is? 
You have felt the kindlings of indignation against the 
wickedness of your child, but blended with this you 
have also felt all the compassionate tenderness of a 
parent's heart. 

The sinner sometimes says, It cannot be that God is 
angry with me, for He watches over me day by day; 
He feeds me from his table, and regales me with his 
bounties. Ah, sinner! you may be greatly mistaken 
in this matter. Don't deceive yourself! God is slow 



90 god's anger against the wicked. 

to anger indeed; that is, He is slow to give expression 
to his anger, and Himself assigns the reason, because 
He is long suffering towards sinners, "not willing that 
any should perish, but that all should come to repent- 
ance." But take care that you do not misconceive his 
real feeling towards you. Beware, lest you misinter- 
pret his great forbearance. He waits, I know; but the 
storm of vengeance is gathering. How soon He may 
come forth out of his place and unlock suddenly all 
the whirlwinds of his vengeance! Ah, sinner! this once 
done, they will sleep no more. 

8. It is plain that sinners do not realize God's 
anger, though they know it. If they do both know 
and realize it, they manifest a degree of hardihood in 
iniquity which is dreadful. But the fact is, they keep 
the thought of God's anger from their minds. They 
are reckless about it, and treat it as they do death. 
Sinners know they must die, but they do not realize 
this fact. They do not love to sit down and commune 
with death — thinking how soon it may come, how cer- 
tainly it will come; how the grave-worms will gnaw 
the flesh from their cheek-bones, and consume those 
eyes now bright and sparkling. These young ladies 
don't love to commune with such thoughts as these, 
and realize how soon these scenes will be realities. 

So you don't love to think of God's anger against 
sin, of his reasons for his anger, and of his great provo- 
cations. You probably don't like to hear me preach 
about it, and yet I preach as mildly as I can. You 
can't bear to hear the subject brought forward and 
pressed upon your attention. Tell me, are you in the 



god's anger against the wicked. 91 

habit of sitting down and considering this subject at- 
tentively? If you were to do so, you could not con- 
temn God and treat Him as if you had no care for 
Him. 

9. Are you aware, sinner, that you have made God 
your enemy, and have you thought how terrible a 
thing this is? Do you consider how impotent you are 
to withstand God ? If you were in any measure de- 
pendent on any one of your fellow-men, you would not 
like to make him your enemy. The student in this 
college is careful not to make the faculty, or any one 
of them, his enemy. The child has the same solici- 
tude in regard to his parent. Now consider what you 
are doing towards God — that God who holds your 
breath in his hands, your very life in his power. Let 
Him only withdraw his hand, and you sink to hell by 
your own gravity. On a slippery steep you stand, and 
the billows of damnation roll below! O sinner! are 
you aware that when you lie down at night with your 
weapons of rebellion against God in your very hands, 
his blazing eye is on you ? Are you well aware of 
this ? 

You may recollect the case of a Mr. H., once a 
student here. For a considerable time he had been 
rebellious against the truth of God as presented here 
to his mind, and this spirit of rebellion rose gradually 
to a higher and yet higher pitch. It seemed to have 
made about as much head as he could well bear, and 
in this state he retired to bed, and extinguished his 
light. All at once his room seemed full of dazzling 
splendor; he gazed around; there stood before him a 



Q2 god's axger against the wicked. 

glorious form — with eyes of unearthly and most 
searching power; gradually all else disappeared save 
one eye, which shone with indescribable brilliancy and 
seemed to search him through and through. The im- 
pression made on his mind was awful. Oh ! said he, 
I could not have lived under it many minutes if I had 
not yielded and bowed in submission to the will of God. 

Sinner, have you ever considered that God's search- 
ing eye is on you? Do you think of it whenever you 
lie down at night? If you should live so long and 
should lie down again on your bed, think of it then. 
Write it down on a little card, and hang it where 
it will most often catch your eye, " Thoii God scest 
me." Do this; and then realize that God's eye is pen- 
etrating your very heart. Oh that searching, awful eye! 
You close your eyes to sleep — still God's eye is on 
you. It closes not for the darkness of night. Do you 
say, "I shall sleep as usual — I am not the sinner who 
will be kept awake through fear of God's wrath. Why 
should I be afraid of God? What have I to fear? I 
know indeed that God says ' Give me thy heart,' but I 
have no thought of doing it. I have disobeyed him 
many years and see no flaming wrath yet. I expect 
He will feed me still and fill my cup with every form of 
blessings" ? 

O sinner ! for these very reasons have you the more 
cause to dread his burning wrath. You have abused 
his mercy well-nigh to the last moment of endurance. 
Oh, how soon will his wrath break forth against thee! 
and no arm in all the universe can stay its whelming 
floods of ruin. And if you don't believe it, its coming 
will be all the more sure, speedy, and awful ! 



V. 

MEN INVITED TO REASON TOGETHER 
WITH GOD. 



" Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though 
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be 
red like crimson, they shall be as wool." — Isaiah i. 18. 

GOD is a moral agent. If He was not, He could 
not have moral character. That He has moral 
character is sufficiently manifest from the revealed fact 
that man is made in his image. Every man knows 
himself to have a moral constitution, and to be a moral 
being. It is also a fact that we necessarily conceive 
of God as a moral agent, and cannot rationally think 
otherwise. 

God is also a good being — not only moral, but holy 
and wise. He always acts upon good and sufficient 
reasons, and never irrationally and without reasons for 
his conduct. 

Hence if we would appeal to God on any subject, 
we must address Him as a good being, and must make 
our appeal through his intelligence, expecting Him to 
be influenced more or less according as we present 
good and sufficient reasons. 

God is always influenced by good reasons. Good 
reasons are more sure to have their due and full weight 



94 MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 

on his mind than on the mind of any other being in 
the universe. Nothing can be more certain than this, 
that if we present to Him good reasons and such as 
ought to influence Him, He will be influenced as much 
as He ought to be. Upon this we may rest with un- 
limited confidence. 

i. Entering now upon the direct consideration of 
our text, let us first inquire, What is that to which this 
text invites us? 

"Come now, and let us reason tog-ether." But what 
are we to "reason" about? The passage proceeds to 
say, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they 
shall be as wool." In the previous context God makes 
grievous and terrible charges against men. Their sins 
and hypocrisies and apostasies have been provoking 
beyond measure. Now, therefore, He comes down to 
look into their case, and see if there be any hope of 
repentance, and proceeds to make a proposal. Come 
now, He says, let us reason together. Come near if 
ye will reason with me. Produce your strong reasons 
why your God should forgive your great sin. 

2. The invitation, coupled with the promises an- 
nexed, implies that there are good and sufficient reasons 
why God should forgive the penitent. Hence the case 
is fair for practical results. The way is open for salva- 
tion. Sinners may so present their reasons before God 
as to ensure success. 

3. The nature of the case shows that we are to ad- 
dress our reasons and make our appeal, not to Justice, 
but to Mercy. We are to present reasons which will 



MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 95 

sanction the exercise of mercy. We have no hope 
from any appeal that we can make to justice. We 
must not come to demand the blessing we need; for it 
is assumed that our sins are as scarlet, and hence 
that there can be no such thing as a justification for 
them. Hence our inquiry is brought within fixed limits. 
We have only to search for those considerations which 
may induce the Lord to exercise mercy in our case. 

Now since sinners need two great blessings, viz. par- 
don and sanctification, our subject naturally embraces 
two points: 

I. The reasons which may be offered why 
God should pardon our sin; 

II. The corresponding reasons why He should 
sanctify our hearts. 

/. What reasons have we to present before God why 
He shoirid forgive sin? 

I enter upon this inquiry, and bring up these rea- 
sons before your mind, in order to show you what 
reasons you may present before God, and to encourage 
you to present them. 

1. You may plead that you entirely justify God in 
all his course. You must certainly take this position, 
for He cannot forgive you so long as you persist in 
self-justification. You know there is a breach of 
friendship between your soul and God. You have 
broken his laws. You either have good reason for 
your sin or you have not. If you have, God is wrong; 
if you have not, then yo it are wrong. You know how 
this case stands. You know beyond all question, — 
with a force of reason that ought to silence all cavil, — 



96 MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 

that all the wrong is on your side and all the right on 
God's side. You might and should know also that' you 
must confess this. You need not expect God to for- 
give you till you do. He ought not to publish to the 
universe that He is wrong and you are right, when there 
is no truth in such a proclamation. Hence you see 
that you must confess what your conscience affirms to 
be truth in the case. 

Now, therefore, will you honestly say, — not as the 
decision of your conscience merely, but as the utter- 
ance of your heart, — that you do accept the punish- 
ment of your iniquities as just, and do honor and acquit 
your God in all the precepts of his law, and in all the 
course of his providence ? Can you present this rea- 
son ? So far as it goes, it is a good reason, and will 
certainly have its weight. 

2. You may come to God and acknowledge that 
you have no apology whatever to make for your sin. 
You renounce the very idea of apology. The case, 
you deeply feel, admits of none. 

3. You must also be ready to renounce all sin, and 
be able in all honesty to say this before God; you 
must utterly cease from all rebellion against God, and 
be able to say so from your very heart, — else you can- 
not reasonably expect to be forgiven. 

4. You must unconditionally submit to his discre- 
tion. Nothing less than this is the fitting moral posi- 
tion for a sinner towards God. You must unqualifiedly 
surrender yourself to his will and utterly renounce your 
own. This will be an important element in your plea 



MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 97 

before God for pardon whenever you can honestly 
make it. 

5. You may plead the life and death of Jesus Christ 
as sufficient to honor the law and justify God in show- 
ing mercy. It is plain that our reasons must reach 
other points besides our own state of mind. They 
must also refer to the penalty of law, and show that 
such arrangements are made as will insure the honor 
and sustain the dignity of the law, though sin be for- 
given. Hence we see how much it is worth to us that 
we are able to plead before God that Christ has fully 
honored the law, so that God can forgive sin without 
the danger of seeming to connive at it. It is every- 
thing to the purpose of a returning sinner that he may 
plead that forgiveness through Christ's death is safe to 
the government of God. Pardon must not put in peril 
the holiness or justice of Jehovah. The utmost ex- 
pression He could make, or need to make, of his holi- 
ness and justice, as touching the sins of man, is 
already made in the death of Christ, "whom God did 
Himself set forth to be a propitiation through faith in 
his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remis- 
sion of sins that are past .... that He might be just 
and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." 

Now, therefore, can you say that you are willing to 
accept the sacrifice which He has made, and receive 
the gift of salvation through his blood as all of bound- 
less grace, and in no sense or measure of meritorious 
works? If you can truly say this, it will become a 
strong reason before God why He should forgive you. 

6. You may also urge his professed love for sin- 
5 



98 MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 

ners. God has professed the greatest love for lost 
men; has even spoken of loving them "with an ever- 
lasting love," and you are at liberty to urge this when 
you Come to reason together with God. You may 
plead that He has manifested this love in the gift of 
his dear Son, and hence you must be sure that you 
understand his language, and there cannot be any mis- 
take in the matter. All your life long, too, He has 
been manifesting his love towards you in his kind 
providence; so that He has not ever left Himself with- 
out witness to both the fact and the greatness of this 
love for the lost of our race. 

7. He has also invited you to come and reason 
with Him. Therefore He has fully opened the way 
for the freest and fullest communion on this point. 
With amazing condescension He suffers you to come 
before Him and plead, filling your mouth with argu- 
ments. You may speak of ail his promises, and of 
that solemn oath in which He sware by Himself, to the 
end that they all " might have a strong consolation 
who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set 
before us in the gospel." 

You may also plead his honor; that, seeing He is 
under oath, and stands committed before the universe, 
you may ask Him what He will do for his great name 
if He refuse to forgive a repentant and believing sin- 
ner. You may plead all the relations and work of 
Christ. You may say to Him, Lord, will it not induce 
other sinners to come to Thee? Will it not encourage 
thy church to labor and pray more for salvation ? Will 



MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 99 

not thy mercy shown to me prove a blessing to 
thousands ? ' 

You may urge the influence of refusing to do so. 
You may suggest that his refusal is liable to be 
greatly misapprehended; that it may be a scandal to 
many; and that the wicked will be emboldened to say 
that God has made no such exceeding great and pre- 
cious promises. 

You may urge that there is joy in heaven, and on 
earth also, over every sinner pardoned and saved; that 
the saints everywhere will be delighted, and will ex- 
ceedingly rejoice in the Lord their God. The Psalmist 
represents the young convert as saying, "The humble 
shall hear thereof and be glad." You may urge, that, 
since God loves to make saints happy in this world, 
He surely will not be averse to giving you his Spirit 
and putting away your sins — it will cause such -joy in 
the hearts of his dear people. 

You may also plead the great abhorrence you have of 
living in sin, as you surely will unless He forgives you. 
You may also plead that God hates sin, and therefore 
must be more than willing to turn your heart away 
from sinning, and make it wholly pure before his eyes. 
You may urge on Him the worth of your soul, — a 
thing which He understands far better than you do, 
and which He shows that He appreciates, inasmuch 
as He gave up his only Son to die that souls might 
not perish. Ask Him if He does not know what it is 
for a soul to be saved, and what it is for a soul to be 
lost, and tell Him that the great question between these 
two momentous states is now pending in your case and 



IOO MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 

must be soon decided for eternity! Ask Him, if, after 
all He has done and said about salvation, He can re- 
fuse to save your perishing soul. Say, O my God! 
dost Thou not know how much my soul is worth, and 
how certainly it is lost forever unless thou interpose 
to save it? 

You may mention before Him your lost estate, — 
that you are entirely dependent on his grace and 
mercy; that you are utterly lost to God, to happiness, 
and to heaven, unless He has mercy on you, and you 
may conjure Him by the love of his dear Son to take 
all these things into consideration. 

You may also allude to his merciful disposition, and 
suggest how often his word has affirmed that "the 
Lord delighteth in mercy," and that while "judgment 
is his strange work, mercy is his delight." Ask Him 
if He will not gratify his own love of showing mercy, 
and give you the salvation you so much need. Remind 
Him that here is a great opportunity to magnify his 
mercy, and display the riches of his grace, and make 
an impression on the minds of both saints and sinners 
greatly to his own honor and to their good. Tell Him 
that to save one so lost and so vile as you, cannot but 
glorify his great mercy far as the case is known in 
earth, or hell, or heaven. Tell Him how He has said, 
"It is more blessed to give than to receive," and ask 
Him if He will not take advantage of this opportunity 
to show all men how He loves to act on this divine law 
of benevolence. 

Tell Him, moreover, how wretched you are, and 
must be in your sins, if you cannot find salvation, and 



MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 101 

what mischief you will be likely to do everywhere, on 
earth and in hell, if you are not forgiven and renewed 
in holiness. Tell Him that it is awful, and makes your 
soul shudder, to think of going on in sin, and of be- 
coming hardened past all repentance. Remind Him 
that He has invited you to come and reason with Him, 
and that He has virtually promised to hear and to con- 
sider your case. You do not come to justify yourself, 
but only to plead his great mercy and what Christ has 
done for you. With these very strong reasons you 
come before Him, on his own invitation, not to com- 
plain against his justice, but to intercede for his mercy; 
that you must beg of Him to consider the awful ruin 
of hell, and that you cannot escape without his help, 
and cannot endure its everlasting horrors. He has 
Himself said, "Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands 
be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee? " Tell 
Him your heart cannot endure this, and that this should 
be a strong reason why He should have mercy on your 
soul. 

You also commit yourself entirely to his hands, and 
resign everything to his discretion and to his supreme 
disposal. Tell Him you believe He will do the very 
best thing possible to Him, all things considered, and 
that you shall by no means shrink from confiding your 
whole case to his disposal. You are not disposed to 
dictate or control what God shall do, but are willing to 
submit all to his wisdom and love. In fact, you have 
such confidence in Him that you expect He will give 
you salvation, for you believe He has intended to en- 
courage you to expect this great blessing, and on this 



102 MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 

ground you do expect to find mercy. You will there- 
fore, at any rate, renounce all your sin henceforth and 
forever. Say, "O Lord, thou knowest that I am 
purposed to renounce all sinning, and in this purpose 
I will persist, and die in it, if die I must, yea, go to 
hell, if so it must be, renouncing all my sin, and trust- 
ing in thy promised grace." 

Let this be the manner of your reasoning together 
with God on this great question of the salvation of 
your soul. 

//. We must now notice a few reasons which may 
be urged by the pardoned sinner who pleads for entire 
sanctification. 

1. You may plead your present justification. You 
have already found grace in his sight. This is a good 
reason to be used in your plea that He would fulfil all 
his promises to you, and not leave his great work, al- 
ready begun, unfinished. 

2. You may plead your relation to Him, to the 
church, and to the world — that, having now been justi- 
fied and adopted into his family, you are known as a 
Christian and a child of God, and it therefore becomes 
of the utmost consequence that you should have grace 
to live so as to adorn your profession, and honor the 
name by which you are called. 

You may also plead your great responsibilities, and 
the weight of those interests that are depending upon 
your spiritual progress. Tell Him you have publicly 
committed yourself to his faithfulness; that you have 
trusted that He would keep you blameless and hence- 
forward make his grace sufficient for you. You have 



MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 103 

professed to rely upon sanctifying grace, and how can 
you bear now to fail of finding all you need and all 
you have professed to expect? 

You should notice, also, the matter of your influence 
over others, especially the influence of your example. 
If it is known that you frequently fall into sin, how 
sad must be the influence! On the other hand, if God 
enables you to stand up and testify continually to his 
sustaining grace, what a testimony is this to his praise, 
and what a blessing to your Christian acquaintances! 

Plead the desire you feel to be completely delivered 
from sin. Ask Him if He has not given you this very 
desire Himself, and inquire if He intends to sharpen 
your thirst and yet withhold the waters of life. Ask 
Him if you must suppose that He means to enkindle 
the burning desire and yet leave it forever unsatisfied. 

Plead also his expressed will. Revert to that ex- 
plicit avowal, " This is the will of God, even your sanc- 
tification." Ask if He did not intend you should 
understand this as applicable to deliverance from all 
sin, and therefore as an unqualified expression of his 
desire and will that you should be altogether free from 
sin, even now. Ask if He has not so revealed his will 
on this point that you do not come to Him in any un- 
certainty as to his will. Has He not in many forms, 
and in forms most clear and decisive, signified his wish 
that you should " perfect holiness," and rise quite above 
all the power of temptation ? Remind Him how He 
has pledged his word of grace and held out before you 
most encouraging promises. 

Tell Him, also, how the church needs such witnesses 



104 MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 

to testify what grace has done, and what they have 
themselves experienced. Refer to what the world are 
saying because the church are not sanctified, and show 
how great a scandal unsanctified professors are to their 
brethren, because they testify falsely to the rich pro- 
visions of gospel grace. Plead that the church have 
many of them fallen almost out of sight of God's great 
grace, and so that they have become a sad stumbling- 
block to the world. Consider how much scandal and 
unbelief exist everywhere, and ask how these great 
evils can be removed and evermore prevented. 

Appeal to his great love for you, as manifested in 
what Christ has done, and in his present office as your 
Advocate on high; as evinced, also, in the gift of the 
Spirit. Tell Him you must and will confide in his 
love. Say, "I understand it; I must and will assume 
it, I cannot doubt, I must not disbelieve. I do not 
make my appeal to one who is an alien and a stranger, 
but to a kind and loving Fatlicr ; and I come in simple- 
confidence as his child." Say, " I dread to offend 
Thee, and I long to live worthy of my vocation, and 
cannot endure to misrepresent that great and blessed 
grace on which my hope reposes." 

So you must come to reason with your Heavenly 
Father. By no means forget to urge the love He has 
professed, and to throw yourself upon his faithfulness, 
pleading that He will fulfil to you all that He has 
promised, and gloriously finish the work He has be- 
gun. Tell Him how you have stumbled many by your 
falls into sin and have given great occasion of reproach 
to the cause you love; tell Him you cannot live so — 



MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 105 

that you are ready to die under this awful burden. 
Cry out before Him, "How have I given thine enemies 
occasion to doubt thy sanctifying grace and to disbe- 
lieve thy words of promise ! O my Saviour ! didst 
Thou not give thyself to die for such a sinner as I am, 
to redeem me from all iniquity? and now, art Thou 
willing that thy servants should be stumbled by me 
and fall over me into the depths of hell?" 

Remind Him, also, of your dependence on Him, and 
that you set out in the Christian life with the under- 
standing that without his grace to help, you could do 
nothing. Tell Him you have consecrated yourself to 
Him in distinct reliance upon his promised aid, and 
that you cannot endure to fall so far short of what you 
had hoped, and what you have promised and expected. 
Tell Him of your willingness to make any sacrifice; 
that there is nothing you are unwilling to give up; that 
you are willing to forego your good name, and to lay 
your reputation wholly upon his altar; that there is not 
one sacrifice you are not willing to make; and you beg 
of Him, if He sees a single thing held so dear to your 
heart that you are not willing to sacrifice it for his 
sake, to show you what it is, and press you to forsake 
it. Assure Him that if self-denial comes in his service 
you are willing to meet all the consequences. You 
are ready to confess his grace to you, and not conceal 
it from the great congregation. Can you say this? If 
so, do it. Tell Him you are ready to die to the world 
— ready to give it all up and renounce it utterly and 
forever. You are determined you will have no more 
fellowship with the works of darkness — to have the 



Io6 MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 

world become dead to you and you to the world. You 
are ready to meet all and bear all that the service of 
Christ may impose and involve. No matter if the 
world disowns you, and casts you out from its regard 
and fellowship. You have counted the cost and are 
ready to meet it all. 

Urge, as a further reason, that you are willing to be- 
come dead to a worldly and unbelieving church; that 
you are ready to die even to their good opinion — to be 
excommunicated if they will do it, to be cast out if they 
will cast you out. You shrink not from being reputed 
a heretic, if you may only have grace to overcome all 
sin and every temptation. You wish to please but 
one; and you are quite satisfied with pleasing God only. 
This shall be your object, and this, attained, shall fully 
satisfy your soul. You are willing to give up all idols 
and live to Him alone. No matter if your name be 
cast out as evil and trodden down as vile, by the 
church, by her ministry, by all men, if you may only 
live to please God. Tell Him you are willing to re- 
nounce all creature help and all earthly reliances, with 
only one great inquiry, How can I most and best please 
God? 

Be sure to remind Him that you intend to be wholly 
disinterested and unselfish in this matter; you ask 
these things not for your own present selfish interest; 
you are aware that a really holy life may subject you 
to much persecution; you know that " if any man will 
live godly in Christ Jesus, he shall suffer persecution;" 
and you are well aware that if you receive this cleans- 
ing, it may bring on you much persecution. You 



MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 107 

come not therefore to ask for present personal good, 
for you expect only greater trials; but you will con- 
sent to endure anything that does not involve sin. 
You want to represent Him truly. You want to en- 
courage all Christians, and all sinners too, to seek 
abounding grace by showing them how you have found 
mercy. 

Then tell Him of your great weakness, and how you 
entirely distrust yourself; how, ofttimes, you are cov- 
ered with confusion and filled with shame, so that you 
cannot lift up your head, and you are constrained to cry, 
O my God! dost thou not pity thy child? Tell Him 
you loathe yourself; that you would fain spue yourself 
out of your own mouth, because you so much dishonor 
Him. Tell Him you despair utterly of saving yourself, 
but that you still have unshaken confidence in Him. 
Remind Him, moreover, of his promises, and say that 
you are encouraged because you know that you are 
asking mercy of a most gracious God. Tell Him you 
shall go away greatly disappointed if you do not re- 
ceive the grace you ask and need. As said a dear 
sister in a great struggle of her soul for spiritual bless- 
ings, " O my God, Thou hast made me exceeding great 
and precious promises; now if Thou dost not give me 
these blessings, what can I say any more for Thee ? 
How can I plead for Thee if Thou dost shut me up in 
my desolations? How can I ever again present thy 
strong claims to be believed and trusted as to all thy 
words of gracious promise? " 

Thus making your strong issue, you come pleading 
not your goodness, but your badness; — appealing not 



108 MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 

to God's justice, but to his mercy; telling Him how 
poor you are and how rich He is, and that therefore 
you cannot bear to go away empty. 

REMARKS. 

1. Whenever we have considered the reasons for 
God's actions till they have really moved and persua- 
ded us, they will surely move Him. God is not slow 
— never slower than we, to see. the reasons for showing 
mercy and for leading us to holiness. 

2. Many fail in coming to God because they do 
not treat Him as a rational being. Instead of consid- 
ering Him as a rational being, they come without ever 
considering the reasons why He should and will for- 
give and sanctify. Of course, failing to have faith, and 
having views altogether dishonoring to God, they fail 
to get the blessing they seek. 

3. Many do not present these reasons, because in 
honesty they cannot. Now God assumes that we 
ought to be in a state of mind to present all these rea- 
sons honestly. If we are not in such a state, we ought 
not to expect blessings. 

4. When we want anything of God, we should al- 
ways consider whether we can present good reasons 
why it should be granted. If you were to apply to 
any other being, e. g., your Governor, you would of 
course ask in the outset, Can I give any good reasons? 
If you are to appeal to justice, you must ask, Have I 
any good reasons to offer? So if you want favors on 
the score of mercy, what reasons have you to offer why 
they should be granted? If you have reasons, be sure 



MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 109 

to offer them, and by no means assume that you shall 
get your case without reasons. 

5. All who are in any want are invited to come and 
bring forward their strong reasons. If in sorrow, dis- 
tress, affliction, come and present your plea. If you 
are a sinner, oppressed with a sense of sin, fear not to 
unbosom your heart before your God. All those who 
are under any afflictive dispensation should come, like 
Job, and tell God how deeply you are afflicted. Why 
not? Did not saints of old say to God, "Doubtless 
Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of 
us, and Israel acknowledge us not"? 

Christian parents, you are invited to come and pre- 
sent your strong reasons why your children should be 
converted. Come and tell God how much you need 
this blessing. Tell Him you cannot endure that all 
your prayers in their behalf should come to naught, 
that the great labor of your life should fail, and worse 
than fail, as it must if your children of the covenant 
should disgrace religion and press their way through 
throngs of offered mercies down to hell. 

Backsliders should come and tell God all their case. 
Ask Him if He will not break your chains, and bring 
you back, and put a new song into your mouth, even 
of praise for recovering grace. 

6. Of all beings, God is most easily influenced to 
save. He is by his very nature disposed to save the 
lost. He loves to let his mercies flow. You have only 
to bring forth your strong reasons; indeed you have 
only to come in the spirit of a child, trustful and lowly, 
and your case is gained. You need not come with a 



110 MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. 

bribe; you need not come and offer pay. No; you 
have only to come and say, I want to serve God; for 
this end I need spiritual blessings. Tell Him how 
much He has loved you, and how often and richly 
He has manifested this love; and plead that He would 
still show forth this same love yet more abundantly, 
that you may still follow on in his service, and never- 
more be confounded and put to shame and sorrow for 
your own grievous sins. 

7. We, of Oberlin, have peculiar reasons to urge 
why God should appear for the conversion and salva- 
tion of sinners among us. Just look here, brethren, 
you who have come here to embosom this institution 
with your influence and your prayers, have you no 
special reasons to urge why God should bless this place 
and sanctify this school, and convert to Himself these 
precious souls? Oh, come and ask God if the growing 
people of this great nation, already outstripping the 
progress of the means of grace, must not become al- 
most heathen, if his infinite mercy does not descend on 
all our schools and colleges and mould these young 
minds to Himself! These young women, what shall 
their influence be when they become wives and mothers, 
and are scattered over the breadth of the land ? And 
these young men, destined to stand on the high places 
of social and moral power, shall the Great West feel 
their influence ? and the distant South, shall it and its 
peculiar institutions feel the touch of their power? 
and the East, shall it know the weight of their prin- 
ciple and of their educated and sanctified talent? Oh, 
have we not reason to plead mightily with God ! Oh, 



MEN INVITED TO REASON WITH GOD. Ill 

how many young palpitating hearts are here which 
need to be drawn into God's work and into the spirit 
of full consecration to the Lord of Hosts ! Christians, 
have you no plea, no special, peculiar plea, to urge in 
behalf of interests so great and so pressing? 

Sinners in Oberlin, have you not some plea to urge? 
O my stony heart, go not down to ruin from this 
Oberlin ! Say rather, O my God, wash all my sins 
away ! Oh fulfil thy promise and make me white as 
snow! Let me not die, but live and declare the high 
praises of my God forevermore ! 



VI. 

CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 



" By manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every 
man's conscience in the sight of God." — 2 Cor. iv. 2. 

THE context shows that these words of Paul refer 
to his manner of preaching, and to the aim which 
he had in those labors. 

Conscience is a moral function of the reason, or in- 
tellect. It is that department of our natural faculties 
which has to do with moral subjects — with morality and 
religion. This faculty gives us moral law and obliga- 
tion; it has the idea of right and wrong, of praise or 
blame-worthiness, of desert of retribution. It compre- 
hends all the intuitions of the intellect on moral ques- 
tions. The term is sometimes used to include those 
states of the sensibility which are occasioned by, 
and connected with, the action of conscience; yet, 
strictly speaking, the term is confined to the intellect, 
and does not embrace the sensibility. 

Every man has a conscience. This is implied in our 
text. How could Paul commend 'himself in presenting 
the truth to every man's conscience if every man had 
not a conscience — that is, if some men had no con- 
science at all ? The existence of a conscience in every 
man is a fact of consciousness and one of its ultimate 



CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 1 1 ^ 

facts. Every man knows that he has a conscience, and 
it is impossible he should know any fact with higher 
evidence, or with greater certainty, than he knows this. 
If he had no conscience, it would be impossible he 
should have the ideas of right and wrong, of good or 
ill desert, of virtue and of vice. No being could convey 
these ideas to his mind if he had not a conscience. No 
language could be of any use to convey such ideas if 
man had no conscience wherewith to apprehend and 
appreciate them. 

These ideas of God, duty, right, and desert of retri- 
bution, belong to man — to all men; are found in all 
men, and cannot be expelled from the human mind. 

This faculty distinguishes man from the lower animals. 
Obviously they have some intellect; but whether they 
know by direct intuition, or in some other way, it 
seems impossible for us to determine. For example, 
we cannot ascertain whether the bee, in constructing 
his cells on the most perfect mathematical principles, 
gets his knowledge of this most perfect method by in- 
tuition or in some other process. Be this as it may, 
neither the bee nor any other of the lower animals has 
any moral law, or any ideas of moral character, of right 
and wrong, of good or ill desert, or of retribution. 
This is the great characteristic difference between these 
animals and man. Hence, if any man sets up the 
claim that he has no conscience, he claims to be a 
brute, for he denies of himself the great distinction be- 
tween the man and the brute. 

Metaphysicians are not agreed whether brutes have 
sensibility and will, or not; they do agree that brutes 



114 CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 

have no conscience and no moral responsibility; so that 
those men who claim this distinction for themselves, 
put themselves at once by that claim on a level with 
the lower animals. 

The Bible and the human conscience are at one, and 
entirely agree in all their moral decisions and teachings. 
This fact proves conclusively that they both come from 
the same author. 

Beginning with our text, I ask, What can Paul mean 
in saying that, by manifestation of the truth, he com- 
mends himself to every man's conscience? Obviously 
this — that by exhibiting to men the great truths of the 
gospel and of the law, he made his appeal to every 
man's conscience in a way and with sentiments that 
enforced each man's approval. The truth commended 
itself as truth; the claims of duty, as right. No man 
who understood this truth could doubt its evidence; 
none who understood its moral claims could dispute 
those claims. 

But this point is so important that it should be ex- 
amined in detail. I therefore remark, that conscience 
reveals the same rules of duty and the same measure of 
obligation as God's revealed law does. Conscience im- 
poses the same law of love as God's law does — love su- 
preme towards God, love equal and impartial towards 
our neighbor. Conscience never fails to affirm that 
each man is bound to love his neighbor as himself. 
There never was a human being of developed and sane 
powers, whose conscience did not impose this obliga- 
tion upon him. 

Conscience also postulates this law as binding on all 



CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 1 1 5 

moral beings, and as extending to all the activities of 
every moral being. In fact, conscience and reason 
show that this is the only possible law or rule of duty 
for moral beings; and the Bible teaches the very same 
in every particular. Both are entirely at one in all 
their teachings on this great subject. 

Both conscience and the Bible harmonize, also, in 
this — that man, in his natural state, has entirely fallen 
from duty. Conscience universally affirms that men do 
not, apart from grace, love God with all their heart, nor 
their neighbors as themselves. The human conscience 
proclaims man in a state of total moral depravity; so 
does the Bible. Conscience affirms that nothing, short 
of full obedience to God's law of love, is real virtue; and 
so does the Bible. Conscience presses the sinner with a 
sense of guilt, and holds him condemned; and so does 
the Bible. And each decides by the same rule in every 
respect. You may take each individual precept you 
find in the law and the gospel; go into the examination 
ever so minutely; canvass all the teachings of Jesus 
Christ, all those of the apostles and of the prophets, — 
you will find that conscience says amen to them all. 

What a remarkable fact is this ! Here is a book 
containing myriads of precepts — that is, if you enum- 
erate all the specific applications; yet they are com- 
prised under two great principles — supreme love to 
God, and equal love to our fellow-man. But in all these 
countless specific applications of these great principles, 
whatever the Bible affirms, conscience endorses. This 
is a most remarkable fact. It never has been true of 
any other book, that all its moral precepts without ex- 



1 1 6 CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 

ception are approved and endorsed by the human con- 
science. This book, so endorsed, must be inspired of 
God. It is impossible to suppose that a book so ac- 
credited of conscience can be uninspired. It is the 
greatest absurdity to deny its inspiration. A book so 
perfectly in harmony with conscience must come from 
the author of conscience. 

Men said of Christ when he taught, " Never man 
spake like this man;" so wonderfully did the truths He 
taught commend themselves to every man's conscience. 
He spake "with authority" and "not as the scribes," 
for every word went home to man's conscience, and 
every precept revealing duty, was recognized and en- 
dorsed as right by the hearer's own convictions. This 
striking feature characterized all his teachings. 

Both the Bible and conscience harmonize in respect 
to the requisition of repentance. Each affirms this to be 
every man's duty. Each rests this claim on the same 
ground, to-wit, that God is right and the sinner wrong; 
and, therefore, that the sinner ought to turn to God in 
submission, and not God turn to the sinner in a change 
of his course. 

In like manner, both conscience and the Bible har- 
monize in the requisition of faith and of entire holiness. 
On all these great gospel precepts, the Bible affirms 
and conscience responds most fully. As to the demand 
of entire holiness, it is a clear dictate of our moral 
sense that we cannot enjoy God without being like 
Him. When our intelligence apprehends the true 
character of God and of man, it recognizes at once the 
necessity that man should be like God in moral charac- 



CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 117 

ter, in order to enjoy his presence. Beings possessed 
of a moral nature can never be happy together unless 
their spirits are congenial. 

Conscience affirms man's position as a sinner to be 
wrong; so does the Bible. It is impossible for a sinner 
to believe that his sin is right and pleasing to God. 
This, also, is the doctrine of the Bible. 

Conscience affirms the necessity of an atonement. 
Mankind have always felt this necessity, and have man- 
ifested this feeling in many ways. Through all ages, 
they have been devising and practising some form of 
sacrifice to render it proper for God to forgive the sin- 
ner. The idea has been in their mind that God must 
demand some sacrifice that would honor his law and 
sustain its injured majesty. That the law has been 
dishonored by the sinner, all have fully admitted. 
And obviously the idea has been in the minds of men 
that it would be dishonorable, degrading, and injurious 
to God, to forgive sin without some atonement. They 
seem to have apprehended the great truth that, before 
God can forgive sin, He must demand some demonstra- 
tion which shall sustain law and evince his own position 
and feelings as a lawgiver. How, but from these uni- 
versal affirmations of conscience, can you account for 
the fact that all mankind have felt the necessity for 
some mediator between God and man ? So universal is 
this felt necessary that when men have had their con- 
science aroused, and have been in doubt or in darkness 
as to Christ, the Mediator, they have plunged into de- 
spair. If conscience sleeps, the sinner may pass along 
with little concern; but when it arouses itself like a 



I 1 8 CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 

mighty man, and puts forth its emphatic announce- 
ments, then no sinner can resist. It is a well-known 
fact that Unitarians, when thoroughly convicted of sin, 
can find no rest in their system of religious belief. I 
am well aware that so long as their conscience is not 
aroused to its functions, and they are in great darkness, 
they can say, " Man is pretty good by nature, and I see 
no need of a vicarious atonement. I accept Christ as a 
good man, an excellent teacher, and a fine example; 
but what do I want of an atoning sacrifice?" So he 
can say, till conscience wakes up its voice of seven 
thunders. Then he cries out, "I am undone. How 
can I live if there be not some atoning sacrifice for my 
sins? " 

There never was a sinner, awakened to see his sins 
truly, who did not go into despair unless he saw the 
atonement. I could give you many cases of this sort 
which have fallen under my own observation, in which, 
persons, long denying the need of any atonement, have 
at length had conscience fully aroused, and have then 
invariably felt that God could not forgive unless in some 
way his insulted majesty were vindicated. 

Indeed, God might be perfectly ready to forgive, so 
far as his feelings are concerned; for He is not vindic- 
tive; neither is He implacable; but He is a moral gov- 
ernor, and has a character, as such, to sustain. The 
interests of his created universe rest on his administra- 
tion, and He must take care what impression He makes 
on the minds of beings who can sin. 

In this light we can appreciate the propensity, al- 
ways felt by the human mind, to put some mediator 



CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 119 

between a holy God and itself. Catholics interpose 
saints and the Virgin — supposing that these will have 
a kind of access to God which they, in their guilt, can- 
not have. Thus conscience recognizes the universal 
need of an atonement. 

The Bible everywhere reveals the adequacy of the 
atonement made by Christ; and it is remarkable that 
the human conscience also promptly accepts it as suf- 
ficient. You may arouse the conscience as deeply as 
you please — may set it all on fire, and yet, as soon as 
the atonement of Christ is revealed, and the mind un- 
derstands what it is, and what relations it sustains to 
law and government, suddenly conscience is quiet; the 
sense of condemnation is gone; the assurance of an ad- 
equate atonement restores peace to the troubled soul. 
Conscience fully accepts this atonement as amply suffi- 
cient, even as the Bible also does. 

But nothing else than this atonement can satisfy con- 
science: not good works, ever so many or so costly; 
not penance, not any amount of self-imposed suffering 
and sacrifice. Let a sinner attempt to substitute ever 
so much prayer and fasting, in place of Christ, as an 
atoning sacrifice, it is all of no avail. The more he tries, 
the more he is dissatisfied. Conscience will not accept 
it. Neither will the Bible. Most wonderfully, we find 
it still true, to whatever point we turn, that conscience 
and the Bible bear the same testimony, take the same 
positions. 

But how does this happen ? Whence comes this 
universal harmony ? This is a problem for those to 
solve who deny the inspiration of God's word. Those 



120 CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 

who admit its inspiration have only to refer both to the 
same Author. It is no strange thing on their theory, 
that God's voice in the Bible, and God's voice in the 
bosom of man, should utter the same notes, each re- 
sponsive to the other, and each affirming or denying in 
perpetual unison. 

Both the human conscience and the Bible teach jus- 
tification by faith. I do not suppose the human con- 
science could have revealed to us the fact of the death 
of Christ; but the Bible having revealed it, the con- 
science can and does appreciate its fitness and ade- 
quacy, and, therefore, can and does accept this sacrifice 
as a ground of justification before God. It recognizes 
the sinner as brought into a state of acceptance with 
God on the ground of what Christ has suffered and 
done. What can be the reason that faith in Christ has 
such wonderful power to extract the smart of sin, take 
away the sense of condemnation, and give the con- 
sciousness of being accepted of God? The fact we see 
developed every day. You cannot make the mind 
afraid of punishment when once it rests in Christ Jesus. 
You cannot create a sense of condemnation while your 
heart has an active faith in the blood of Christ. By no 
methods you can employ, can you force it upon the 
soul. With faith there will be hope and peace, despite 
of all your efforts to dislodge them. When the soul re- 
ally embraces Christ, peace will ensue. The truth is, 
the provisions of the gospel for the pardon of sin meet 
the demands of conscience. It affirms that God is just, 
and therefore is satisfied, while He justifies the penitent 
believer in Jesus. It is the province of conscience to 



CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 121 

affirm the propriety or impropriety of God's moral con- 
duct as well as man's; and hence, it moves only within 
its sphere when it affirms that God can rightly accept 
such a satisfaction as that made in the atonement of 
Christ for sin. 

Conscience affirms that there can be no other con- 
ceivable way of justifying the sinner except by faith in 
Christ. You may try ever so much to devise some 
other scheme, yet you cannot. You may try to get 
peace of mind on any other scheme than this — as some 
of you have — but all is of no avail. I once said to a 
Roman Catholic, "When you went to confessional you 
hoped to be accepted and to get peace?" Yes. "But 
did you find it to your full satisfaction?" Not cer- 
tainly. I cannot say that I knew I was accepted. 

There never was a Catholic who had been through 
all their ceremonies, and afterwards, being converted to 
faith in Christ alone, experienced the deep peace of the 
gospel, who did not see the wide difference between 
his experience as a Papist and his experience as a gos- 
pel believer. His conscience so completely accepts his 
faith in the latter case, and gives him such deep, as- 
sured peace; while in the former case there could be 
nothing of this sort. 

The Bible and conscience agree in affirming the doc- 
trine of endless punishment. Conscience could teach 
nothing else. At what period in the lapse of future 
ages of suffering would conscience say, "He has suf- 
fered enough. The law of God is satisfied; his desert 
of punishment for sin is now exhausted, and he deserves 

no more"? Those who know an\ 
6 



122 CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 

cisions of conscience on this point, know very well that 
it can conceive of no limitations of ill-desert for sin. It 
can see no end to the punishment which sin deserves. 
It can conceive of the man who has once thus sinned, 
as being nothing else but a sinner before God, since 
the fact of his having sinned can never cease to be a 
fact. If you have been a thief, that fact will always be 
true, and in that sense you must always be a thief in 
the eye of law. You cannot make it otherwise. Your 
suffering can make no sort of satisfaction to an offended 
law. Conscience will see more and more guilt in your 
course of sin, and your sense of guilt must increase to 
all eternity. You can never reach the point where 
conscience will say, "This suffering is enough; this sin- 
ner ought to suffer no longer." The Bible teaches the 
same. 

Yet each agree in teaching that God can forgive the 
penitent through faith in Christ, but can extend for- 
giveness to no sinner on any other ground. 

REMARKS. 

I. We see why the Bible is so readily received as 
from God. Few have ever read any treatise of argu- 
ment on this subject; but as soon as one reads those 
parts which relate to morals, conscience at once affirms 
and endorses all. You need no higher evidence that 
He who speaks in the Bible is very God. The truth 
commends itself to every man's conscience, and needs 
no other endorser of its divine origin. Probably in 
all this congregation not one in fifty ever sat down to 
read through a treatise on the evidences of a divine 



CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 1 23 

revelation; and you can give perhaps no other reason 
for your belief in the Bible than the fact that it com- 
mends itself to your conscience. 

2. You see why one who has seen this harmony 
between conscience and the Bible, cannot be reasoned 
out of his belief in the Bible by any amount of subtle 
sophistry. Perhaps he will say to his opponent, "I 
cannot meet your sophistries; I have never speculated 
in that direction; but I know the Bible is true, and the 
whole gospel is from God. I know it by the affirma- 
tions of my own mind. I know it by its perfect fitness 
to meet my wants. I know it has told me all I ever 
felt, or have ever needed, and it has brought a perfect 
supply for all my need." This he can say in reply to 
sophistry which he may have no other logic to with- 
stand. But this is amply sufficient. 

In my own case, I know it was the beauty and in- 
trinsic evidence of the Bible which kept me from being 
an infidel. I should have been an infidel if I could, 
and I should have been an Universalist if I could have 
been, for I was wicked enough to have been either. 
But I knew the Bible to be true; and when I set my- 
self to make out an argument against it, I could not 
divest myself of an ever present conviction that this 
was the wrong side. Just as a lawyer who sits down 
to examine a case, and finds at every turn that his evi- 
dence is weak or irrelevant, and is troubled with a 
growing conviction that he is on the wrong side; and 
the more he examines his case and his law books, the 
more he sees that he must be wrong — so I found it in 
my investigations into the evidences of revelation, and 



124 CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 

in my readings of the Bible. In those times I was 
wicked enough for anything, and used to go out among 
the plain Christian people and talk to them about the 
Bible, and puzzle them with my questions and hard 
points. I could confound, even though I could not 
convince them, and then I would try to enjoy my sport 
at their expense. Sometimes afterwards, I would go 
and tell them I could show them how they settled this 
question of the divine authority of the Bible, although 
they could not tell me. 

I don't believe there ever was, or ever can be, a can- 
did man who shall candidly examine the Bible, com- 
pare its teachings with the affirmations of his own con- 
science, and then deny its authority. 

3. Neither Paul nor Jesus Christ preached sermons 
on the evidences of a revelation from God; how was it, 
then, that Christ brought out the truth in such a way 
as to reach the conscience, wake up its energies, and 
make it speak out in fearful tones? He manifested the 
truth in such a way as to commend it to every man's 
conscience. 

4. Just in proportion as a man fails to develop his 
conscience, or blinds, abuses, or silences it, can he be- 
come sceptical. It will always be so far only as his 
conscience becomes seared and blind; while, on the 
other hand, as his conscience has free scope and speaks 
out truthfully, will his conviction become irresistible that 
the Bible is true and from God. 

5. The Bible is sometimes rejected because misun- 
derstood. I once fell in with an infidel who had read 
much (not in the Bible) and who, after his much read- 



Conscience and the bible in harmony. 125 

ing, settled down upon infidelity. I inquired of him 
as to his views of the inspiration of the Bible, when he 
promptly replied, "I know it is not true, and is not 
from God, for it teaches things contrary to my con- 
science." Ah, said I, and pray tell me in what partic- 
ulars ! What are these things, taught in the Bible, that 
are contrary to your conscience ? 
He began thus: 

(1) "It teaches the imputation of Adam's sin to 
his posterity." But stop, said I, is that Bible, or is it 
only catechism ? He soon found that he had to look 
in his catechism to find it, for it was not in his Bible. 

(2) " It teaches that human nature, as made by God, 
is itself sinful." I soon showed him that the Bible said 
no such thing. He declared that this doctrine was con- 
trary to his conscience; I admitted it, but vindicated 
the Bible from such impiety as ascribing the creation 
of sin to God. 

(3) " But," said he, "the Bible certainly does teach 
that men are naturally unable to obey God, and, espec- 
ially, are unable to repent and believe the gospel." I 
replied, That is neither taught nor implied in the Bible, 
in the sense in which you urge it; but, on the contrary, 
the Bible both teaches and implies that sinners can 
obey God, and are for that very reason responsible, and 
guilty if they refuse. 

(4) There was one other point on which all the 
books were clear and strong, but which was utterly 
against his conscience, namely, "that Christ was pun- 
ished for our sins. This punishing the innocent instead 
of the guilty," he said, "was one of the most unjust 



126 CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 

things that could be imagined." Well, said I, that is just 
what the Bible does not teach. It nowhere holds the 
doctrine that Christ was punished as a criminal. Pun- 
ishment implies guilt, and is inflicted as penalty for 
crime, — neither of which is true in the case of Christ. 
He only suffered as an innocent being, and of his own 
free accord. You cannot say that this is wrong. If 
one man in his benevolence chooses to suffer for an- 
other, no principle of justice is violated. This he con- 
ceded. 

(5) "According to the Bible," said he, "none can 
be saved without having their natures constitutionally 
changed. But no man can be held responsible for 
changing his own constitution." Here, too, I showed 
him his misapprehension of the Bible. The change is 
only that which pertains primarily to the voluntary 
powers, and of course is just that which man is made 
capable of doing, and which he must do himself. 

(6) He urged, I think, but one point more, namely, 
"that God has elected some to be saved, and some to 
be damned, and that none can escape their foreordained 
destiny." To this you know I would reply that the 
Bible did not teach such an election, nor authorize 
such an inference, but everywhere implied the oppo- 
site. Such was our discussion. 

You doubtless all know that such mistakes as these 
have led some men to reject the Bible. It is not 
strange that they should. I could never have received 
the Bible as from God if I had believed it to teach 
these things. I had to learn first that those things 
were not in the Bible, and then I was prepared to 



CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 12/ 

accept it in accordance with my conscience and rea- 
son, and from God. 

6. Scepticism always evinces either great wicked- 
ness, or great ignorance as to what the Bible teaches, 
and as to the evidence on which its claims rest. Both 
the nature of the case and the testimony of observation 
conspire to prove this. 

7. All the truths of natural religion are taught and 
affirmed both in the conscience and in the Bible. This 
is a most remarkable fact; yet easily shown in the full- 
est detail. 

8. The conscience recognizes the Bible as its own 
book — the book of the heart — a sort of supplement to 
its own imperfect system — readily answering those 
questions which lie beyond the range of vision, which 
conscience enjoys. There are questions which con- 
science must ask, but cannot answer. It must ask 
whether there is any way in which God can forgive sin, 
and if so, what it is. Such questions conscience can- 
not answer without help from revelation. It is striking 
to observe how conscience grasps these glorious truths 
when they are presented, and the heart has come to 
feel its need of God's light and love. Mark how, when 
the moral nature of man has sent forth its voice abroad 
over the universe, far as its notes can reach, implor- 
ing light, and crying aloud for help, and listening to 
learn if any response is made; — then when it catches 
these responsive notes from God's written revelation, it 
shouts amen! AMEN ! that brings me salvation! Let 
God be praised ! 

9. The sceptic is obliged to ignore the teachings of 



128 CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 

his own nature and the voice of his conscience. All 
those moral affirmations must be kept out of sight, or 
he could not remain an infidel. It will not do for him 
to commune with his own heart, and ask what testi- 
mony conscience bears as to duty, truth, and his God. 
All he can do to smother the spontaneous utterance of 
his conscience, he must needs do, for the sake of peace 
in his sin and scepticism. 

10. But these efforts must be ultimately vain, for, 
sooner or later, conscience will speak out. Its voice, 
long smothered, will break forth with redoubled force, 
as if in retribution for being abused so long. Many 
may live sceptics; few can die such. To that few you 
cannot hope to belong; you already know too much 
on this subject. You cannot satisfy yourself that the 
Bible is false, and make yourself disbelieve its divine 
authority, so that it will stay disbelieved. Such a no- 
tion, resting on no valid evidence, but starting up un- 
der the stimulus of a corrupt heart, will disappear when 
moral realities shall begin to press hard on your soul. 
I am aware that in these latter times some young men 
make the discovery that they know more and are wiser 
than all the greatest and best men that have ever lived. 
They think so, but they may, in divine mercy, live long 

enough to unlearn this folly, and to lay off this self- 
conceit. One thing I must tell you, You cannot die 
sceptics, you cannot die believing that God can accept 
you without faith in Christ. Do you ask, Why? Be- 
cause you have heard too much truth. Even this after- 
noon you have heard too much to allow you to carry 
such a delusion to your graves. No ! you cannot die 
in darkness and delusion. I beg you to remember 



CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE IN HARMONY. 1 29 

when you come to die, that I told you, you could not 
die a sceptic. Mark my words thai, and prove them 
false if you can. Write it down for a memorandum, 
and treasure it for a test in the trying hour — that I 
told you solemnly, you could not die a sceptic. It will 
do you no hurt to remember this one thing from me; 
for if you should in that hour find me mistaken, you 
can have none the less comfort of your infidelity. It 
is not improbable that I shall be at the death-bed of 
some of you this very summer. Not a summer has 
passed yet since I have been here that I have not stood 
by the dying bed of some dear young man. And shall 
I find you happy in the dark discomfort of infidelity? 
There is no happiness in it; — and if there were, yoti 
cannot have it, for not one of you can die an infidel ! 
Dr. Nelson once informed me that he said this same 
thing to a young infidel. Not long after, this infidel 
was sick, and thought himself dying, yet his infidelity 
remained unshaken; and when he saw the Doctor next, 
he cast into his teeth that prediction, which he thought 
had been triumphantly disproved. " Dr. N.," said he, 
" I was dying last month; and, contrary to your strange 
prediction, my infidelity did not forsake me." Ah, 
said the Doctor, but you were not dying then ! And 
you never can die an infidel ! When that young man 
came to die, he did not die an infidel. His conscience 
spake out in awful thunders, and his soul trembled ex- 
ceedingly as it passed from this to another world. 

But such fears may come too late! The door per- 
haps is shut, and the soul is lost! Alas, that you 
should lose eternal life for a reason so poor, for a com- 
pensation so insignificant ! 
6* 



VII. 

SALVATION DIFFICULT TO THE CHRISTIAN 
—IMPOSSIBLE TO THE SINNER. 



" If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and 
the sinner appear? " — i Peter, iv. 18. 

FROM the connection of this passage, some have 
inferred that the apostle had his eye immediately 
upon the destruction of Jerusalem. They suppose this 
great and fearful event to be alluded to in the language, 
"For the time has come that judgment must begin at 
the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall 
be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God ? " 
This may refer to the destruction of the city and tem- 
ple of God's ancient people, yet the evidence for the 
opinion does not seem to be decisive. A reference to 
the event is possible and even probable. We know 
that when Jerusalem was destroyed-, not one Christian 
perished. They had timely notice in the signs Christ 
had already given them, and perceiving those signs in 
season, they all fled to Pella, on the east of the Jordan, 
and hence were not involved in the general destruction. 
But whether Peter refers to this particular event or 
not, one thing is plain: he recognizes a principle in 
the government of God, namely, that the righteous will 
be saved, though with difficulty, but the wicked will not 



SALVATION DIFFICULT TO THE CHRISTIAN. 1 3 1 

be saved at all. It is plain throughout this whole 
chapter that Peter had his mind upon the broad dis- 
tinction between the righteous and the wicked — a dis- 
tinction which was strikingly illustrated in the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, and which can never lack illustrations 
under the moral and providential government of a holy 
God. 

The salvation of the righteous, though certain, is 
difficult. Though saved, they will be scarcely saved. 
On this basis rests the argument of the apostle, — that 
if their salvation be so difficult, the sinner cannot be 
saved at all. His salvation is utterly impossible. This 
is plainly the doctrine of the text. It had a striking 
exemplification in the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
the passage, as I have said, may or may not have refer- 
ence to that event. All students of the Bible know 
that this great destruction is often held up as a type 
or model of the final judgment of the world. It was a 
great event on the page of Jewish history, and certainly 
had great significance as an illustration of God's deal- 
ings towards our sinning race. 

In pursuing this subject, I purpose to show, 
I. Why the salvation of the righteous is 

DIFFICULT; 

II. Why the salvation of the sinner is 

impossible; 
III. Answer the question of the text, — 
Where shall the ungodly and the 
sinner appear ? 
The difficulty in the salvation of either the right- 
eous or the wicked turns not on any want of mercy in 



132 SALVATION DIFFICULT TO THE CHRISTIAN, 

the heart of God. It is not because God is implaca- 
ble and hard to be appeased: this is not the reason 
why the salvation of even the sinner is impossible. 

Again, it is not in any lack of provision in the atone- 
ment to cover all the wants of sinners, and even to 
make propitiation for the sins of the world. The Bible 
nowhere raises the question as to the entire sufficiency 
of the atonement to do all that an atonement can do 
or need do for the salvation of our race. 

But, positively, one difficulty is found in the nature 
of God's government, and in the nature of free agency 
in this world. God has so constituted man as to limit 
Himself to one mode of government over him. This 
must be moral, and not physical. It must be done by 
action upon mind as mind, and not by such force as 
applies legitimately to move matter. If the nature of 
the case admitted the use of physical force, it would be 
infinitely easy for God to move and sway such puny 
creatures as we are. That physical omnipotence which 
sweeps the heavens and upholds the universe could 
find no difficulty in moving lumps of clay so small and 
insignificant as we. But mind cannot be moved as 
God moves the planets. Physical force can have no 
direct application to mind for the purpose of determin- 
ing its moral action. If it should act upon mind as it 
does upon matter, we certainly know there could be 
neither moral action nor moral character in such beings 
as we are. We could not have even a conception of 
moral conduct. How then could the thing itself pos- 
sibly exist ? 

Men are placed under God's government with such 



IMPOSSIBLE TO THE SINNER. 1 33 

a created constitution and such established relations to 
it that they must act freely. God has made them 
capable of controlling their own moral conduct by the 
free action of their own wills, and now He expects 
and requires them to choose between his service and 
rebellion. Such being the case, the great difficulty is 
to persuade sinners to choose rigJit. God is infinitely 
ready to forgive them if they will repent; but the great 
problem is to persuade them to do so. They are to be 
prepared for heaven. For this, an entire change of 
moral character is requisite. This could be done with 
the utmost ease, if nothing more were needful than to 
take them into some Jordan stream and wash them, 
physically, as if from some external pollution, and God 
should be pleased to employ physical power for this 
purpose. But the change needed being in its nature 
moral, the means employed must be moral. All the 
influences must be of a moral character. 

Now everybody knows that a moral agent must be 
able, in the proper sense of this term, to resist every 
degree of moral influence. Else he cannot be a moral 
agent. His action must be responsible action, and 
therefore must be performed of his own free will and 
accord, no power interposing of such a sort or in such 
measure as to overbear or interfere with his own re- 
sponsible agency. Hence the necessity of moral means 
to convert sinners, -to gain their voluntary consent in 
this great change from sin to holiness, from disobey- 
ing to obeying God. And hence the need that this 
change be wrought, ultimately, by moral means alone. 
God may and does employ physical agencies to act 



134 SALVATION DIFFICULT TO THE CHRISTIAN, 

morally, but never to act physically. He may send 
sickness, to reach the heart, but not to purge away any 
sort of physical sin. 

There are a great many difficulties in the way of 
converting sinners, and saving them when once con- 
verted: — many which people are prone to overlook. 
Hence we must go into some detail, in order to make 
this matter plain. 

One class of these difficulties is the result of an 
abused constitution. When Adam and Eve were 
created, their appetites were doubtless mild and mod- 
erate. They did not live to please themselves and 
gratify their own appetites. Their deep and all-en- 
grossing desire and purpose to please God was the 
law of their entire activities. For a time, therefore, 
they walked in holy obedience, until temptation came 
in a particular form, and they sinned. Sin introduced 
another law — the law of self-indulgence. Every one 
knows how terribly this law tends to perpetuate and 
strengthen itself. Every one knows the fearful sway 
it gains so rapidly over the whole being when once en- 
throned in power. Now, therefore, the beautiful order 
and subordination which in holiness obtained through- 
out all their active powers, was broken up and sub- 
verted under the reign of sin. Their appetites lost 
their proper balance. No longer subordinate to reason 
and to God, they became inordinate, clamorous, des- 
potic. 

Precisely in this does sin consist — in the irrational 
gratification of the appetites and passions. This is 



IMPOSSIBLE TO THE SINNER. 1 35 

the form in which it appeared in our first parents. 
Such are its developments in all the race. 

Now in order to save men, they must be brought back 
from this, and restored to a state in which God and 
reason control the free action of the mind, and appe- 
tite is held in due subjection. 

Now here let me be understood. The want of bal- 
ance — the moral disorder of which I speak — is not this, 
that the will has become enslaved, and has lost its in- 
herent power of free moral action. This is not the 
difficulty; but the thing is, that the sensibility has been 
enormously developed, and the mind accustoms itself 
to yield to the demands it makes for indulgence. 

Here is the difficulty. Some have formed habits 
and have confirmed them until they have become im- 
mensely strong, and it becomes exceedingly difficult 
to induce them to break away. The rescue must be 
effected by moral, not by physical means, and the 
problem is to make the moral means powerful enough 
for the purpose. 

Again, we must notice, among the difficulties in 
question, the entanglements of a multitude of circum- 
stances. I have often thought it well for Christians 
that they do not see all their difficulties at first. If 
they did, its discouraging effect might be disastrous. 
Coming upon the mind while it is poising the elements 
of fhe great question — a life of sin or a life of holiness; 
or, after conversion, falling in their power upon the mind 
while yet its purpose to serve God is but little con- 
firmed, the result might be not only greatly trying, but 
perhaps fatal. But the ways of God in this, as in all 



I36 SALVATION DIFFICULT TO THE CHRISTIAN, 

things, are admirable. He does not let them see all 
their future difficulties at first, but lets them come up 
from time to time in succession, as they have strength 
to meet them and overcome. 

The great difficulty is, living to please self rather than 
God. It is wonderful to see how much this difficulty 
is enhanced by the agency Satan and sin have had in 
the framework of society. It would seem that a bait 
is held before every man, whatever his position and 
circumstances may be. One cannot but be astonished 
at the number of baits provided and laid in the habits 
and usages, we might perhaps say, in the very con- 
struction and constitution, of society. See how men 
are interlocked in the relations of life, — partners in 
business, associates in pleasure; attached in the more 
endearing and permanent relations of life, — husbands 
and wives, lovers and loved, parents and children. 
How many influences of a moral sort, and often tempt- 
ing to sin, grow out of each, and, Oh, how many out 
of all these complicated and various relations! Youth 
of both sexes are educated — perhaps together, perhaps 
apart; yet in either case there arises a host of social 
attractions, and in the history of the race, who does 
not know that often the resulting influences are evil? 
The troubles and cares of business — how often do they 
"like a wild deluge come," and overwhelm the soul 
that else would "consider its ways and turn its feet 
unto God's testimonies"! How complicated are the 
sources of irritation that provoke men's spirits to ill- 
temper, and ensnare them thus into sin ! Many times 
we marvel and say, What amazing grace is needful 



IMPOSSIBLE TO THE SINNER. Itf 

here! What power, less than Almighty, could pluck 
God's children from such a network of snares and 
toils, and plant them at last on the high ground of es- 
tablished holiness ! 

There is a man chained to a wife who is a constant 
source of temptation and trial to him. There is a wife 
who sees scarce a peaceful moment in all her life with 
her husband, — all is vexation and sorrow of spirit. 

Many parents have children who are a constant trial 
to them. They are indolent, or they are reckless, or 
they are self-willed and obstinate. Their own tempers 
perhaps are chafed, and they become a sore tempta- 
tion to a similar state of chafed and fretted temper in 
their parents. On the other hand, children may have 
equal trials in their parents. Where can you find a 
family in which the several members are not in some 
way a source of trial to each other! Sometimes the 
temptation comes in an appeal to their ambition and 
pride. Their children have some qualities for the 
parents to be proud of, and this becomes a snare to 
parents and children both. Oh, how complicated are 
the temptations which cross and re-cross every pathway 
of human life ! Who but God can save against the 
power of such temptations? 

Many children have been brought up in error. Their 
parents have held erroneous opinions, and they have 
had their moral constitution saturated with this in- 
fluence from their cradle and upwards. How terrible 
such an influence must inevitably be! 

Or, the business of their parents may have been such 
as to w^educate them — as the business of rum-selling, 



I38 SALVATION DIFFICULT TO THE CHRISTIAN, 

for example, and who does not know how terribly this 
kind of influence cleaves to a man, even as his skin, and 
seems to become a part of him by pervading the very 
tissues of his soul ! 

When the mind gives itself up to self-indulgence, and 
a host of appetites become clamorous and impetuous, 
what a labor it must be to bring the soul into harmony 
with God ! How many impulses must be withstood 
and overcome; how great the change that must be 
wrought in both the physical and moral state of the 
man ! No wonder that the devil flatters himself that 
he has got the race of depraved men into his snares 
and can lead them captive at his will. Think how 
many thousand years he has been planning and schem- 
ing, studying human nature and the laws of depravity, 
that he may make himself fully master of the hellish 
art of seducing moral agents away from God and holi- 
ness. The truth is, we scarcely begin to realize how 
artful a devil we have to encounter. We scarcely be- 
gin to see how potent an adversary is he who, "like a 
roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may de- 
vour," and who must be resisted and overcome, or we 
are not saved. 

Many are not aware of the labor necessary to get rid 
of the influence of a bad education. I speak now of 
education in the broad comprehensive sense — embrac- 
ing all that moulds the habits, the temper, the affections, 
as well as develops the intellect. Ofttimes the affec- 
tions become unhappily attached, yet the attachment 
is exceedingly strong, and it shall seem like the sun- 
dering of the very heart-strings, to break it off. This 



IMPOSSIBLE TO THE SINNER. 139 

attachment may fasten upon friends, wives, husbands, 
or children; it may make gold its god, and bow down 
to such an image. Sometimes we are quite inadequate 
to judge of the strength of this attachment, except as 
we may see what strange and terrible means God is 
compelled to use to sever it. Oh, how does He look 
with careful, tearful pity upon his entangled and en- 
dangered children, marking the bands that are coiled 
around their hearts to bind them to earth, and contriv- 
ing how He can best sunder those bands and draw 
back their wandering hearts to Himself ! We know 
He never does afflict willingly, nor grieve the children 
of men — never his people but for their profit, that they 
may partake of his holiness; yet who does not know 
how often He is compelled to bring tears from their 
eyes; to wring their hearts with many sorrows; to tear 
from them many a fond and loved object of their affec- 
tions — else He could not save them from their propen- 
sities towards sin and self-indulgence! Oh, what a 
work is this which Christ undertakes that He may save 
his people from their sins! How strange and how 
complicated are the difficulties! Who could overcome 
them but God! 

Again, the darkness of nature is so great and so 
gross, that it must be an exceedingly great work to save 
them from its influence, and pour the true light of God 
through their intelligence. It is by no means sufficient 
to know the mere theory of religion, or to know all of 
religion that the human mind, unenlightened by the 
Divine Spirit, can know. Indeed, Christians never 
know themselves except as they see themselves in 



140 SALVATION DIFFICULT TO THE CHRISTIAN, 

God's own light. They need to see God's character in 
its real nature, and then, in view of what God is, they 
can see and estimate themselves rightly. This is one 
important part of the truth on this subject; and an- 
other point is, that God Himself by his Spirit becomes 
the teacher of the humble and trustful, and so enlight- 
ens the understanding that divine truth can be seen in 
its real colors and just proportions. And now do you 
say, O God, show me what I am, and make me know 
my own heart thoroughly? Did you ever find your- 
self in doubt and perplexity about your own state, and 
then, crying for help and light unto God, has He not 
answered your prayer by first revealing Himself and 
his own character, so that in the light reflected from 
his character you saw your own, and in the light of 
his principles of action you saw your own, and in the 
light shown you as to his heart you also saw your own? 
You do not see your own state of mind by simply in- 
verting your mental eye and looking within, but by 
being drawn so near to God that you come into real 
and deep sympathy with Him. Then, seeing and 
knowing God, you see and know yourself. You can- 
not help seeing whether your heart responds in sym- 
pathy and aim with his, and this very fact reveals your 
own heart to yourself. It is wonderful how much the 
Christian learns of himself by truly learning God; and 
it is not less a matter of wonder and admiration that 
Christians should experience such moral transforma- 
tions by simply knowing God, and by being drawn into 
sympathy with Him the more as the more they know 
Him. The great difficulty is that Christians are shy 



IMPOSSIBLE TO THE SINNER. 141 

of God — shy — especially as soon as they relapse into 
the spirit of the world. Then they find an almost re- 
sistless inclination to keep off, to hold themselves aloof 
from anything like close communion with God. Hence 
God is compelled to draw them back, to discipline 
them with afflictions, to spoil their idols, and dash in 
pieces their graven images. Always awake and on the 
alert — so the Bible represents it: "He that keepeth 
Israel shall never slumber or sleep." By day and by 
night He watcheth, and "keepeth them as the apple of 
his eye!" How wonderful is such condescension and 
loving kindness ! 

Finally, the greatness of the change requisite in pass- 
ing from sin to real holiness — from Satan's kingdom 
into full fitness for Christ's, creates no small difficulty 
in the way of saving even the converted. It is difficult, 
nay impossible, to make men see this all at once;, and, 
indeed, if the Christian were to see it all at once, it 
would not unlikely overwhelm him in despair. Hence 
God wisely lets him see enough to impress strongly his 
need of divine aid, and enough to make him cry out, 
"Who then can be saved?" 

REMARKS. 

But I must make some remarks in application of the 
subject so far discussed, and reserve the consideration 
of our remaining points to another time. 

We see why the Scriptures are so full of exhortations 
to Christians to run, RUN, and especially to run by ride. 
He that striveth for the mastery must by all means 
strive lawfully" i. e., according to the rules in such 



142 SALVATION DIFFICULT TO THE CHRISTIAN, 

cases made and provided. So let the Christian be 
careful not only that he runs, but that he runs the 
right way and in the right manner. 

We see, also, why the Christian is exhorted in like 
manner to fight, grasping the sword, buckling on the 
shield, putting on the helmet of salvation, preparing 
himself in all points for a warlike march through an 
enemy's country, where fighting must be looked for 
day and night. 

Coupled with this is the fitting exhortation to stand 
fast — to plant his feet firmly and brace himself with all 
his strength, as if the enemies' hosts were about to 
charge with the deadly bayonet. Stand fast, their 
Captain shouteth; play the man for your king and for 
yourselves, for the enemy are down upon you in 
strength and in wrath ! 

Agonize too, struggle; for fierce will the conflict be. 
It is no contemptible foe whom you must face. The 
Scriptures represent that only the violent take this 
kingdom of God, and they do it "by force." What 
could be more expressive of the energy to be put forth 
by Christ's people if they would win the victory and 
wear the crown ? 

W r e see why Christians are represented as wrestling, 
like men in personal struggle for the mastery. They 
have a personal enemy to fight and to subdue. 

They must, however, give all diligence. A lazy man 
cannot get to heaven. To get there costs toil and 
labor. For his will must be sanctified. The entire 
voluntary department of his being must be renovated. 
It is remarkable how the Christian warfare develops 



IMPOSSIBLE TO THE SINNER. 1 43 

the will. Not an obstinate will — not a self-will, do I 
mean, but a strong and firm will. The man, disci- 
plined in the Christian conflict, cries out, I must and I 
will believe; I wi\\ trust. 

The Christian is also commanded to watch — not to 
close his eyes for a little more sleep and a little more 
slumber. His condition is one of hourly peril, and 
therefore, what Christ says to one, He says to all — 
WATCH. We can see the reason for this in the light 
revealed from our subject. 

We see, also, why the Christian is to pray always, 
as well as to agonize and watch. It is not all to be 
done by his own unaided exertions. In fact, one of 
his chief exertions should turn upon this very point — 
that he pray always, "watching thereunto," lest any 
thing draw his heart down from the throne of his Great 
Helper. 

We may also see why Christians are exhorted to 
separate themselves from the world. They are told 
they must hang the old man upon the cross. To this 
there are no exceptions. Whoever would be saved 
must be crucified — that is, as to "the old man and his 
deeds." The crucifixion of Christ is an emblem of 
this, and serves, therefore, in a measure, to show what 
this must and should be. 

Does any one suppose that the whole intent of 
Christ's crucifixion is to meet the demands of the vio- 
lated law? Not so; but it was also to be an emblem 
of the work to be wrought upon and within the Christ- 
ian's soul. Its old selfish habitudes must be broken 
up and its powerful tendencies to evil be slain. 



144 SALVATION DIFFICULT TO THE CHRISTIAN, 

Mark, also, why Christians are exhorted to spend 
the time of their sojourning here in fear, and to walk 
softly and carefully, as before God, through all the 
meanderings of their pilgrimage; in all holy conver- 
sation — so reads his book of counsel — being steadfast, 
immovable, always abounding in work — the work, too, 
of the Lord, as knowing that so his labor will not be 
in vain in the Lord. Every weight must he lay aside; 
must not encumber himself with many cares; must not 
overload himself with gold, nor even with care and 
effort to get it; must be watchful most diligently on 
this side and on that, remembering, for both his quick- 
ening and his comfort, that Christ, too, with his holy 
angels, watches evermore over him, saying, I am deter- 
mined to save you if I can, but I cannot unless I can 
first gain and then retain your attention, and then 
rouse up your hearts to the utmost diligence, coupled 
with the most simple-hearted faith. Oh, what a con- 
flict there must be to rescue each saved sinner from the 
jaws of Satan and from the thraldom of his own lusts, 
and finally bring him home, washed and holy, to his 
home in the heavens ! No wonder the Bible should 
speak of the Christian as being saved only through 
much difficulty. 

Again, sinners, if they will only exercise a little 
common sense and philosophy, can readily account for 
the faults of Christians. See that husband with a pious 
wife. He treats her badly, and day after day annoys, 
her by his ill-temper and little abuses. The children, 
too, trouble her, and all the more for the example her 
husband sets before them. Now he may very likely, 



IMPOSSIBLE TO THE SINNER. 1 45 

in some of his moods of mind and temper, drop some 
reflections upon her piety, and upon the gospel she 
professes; but in his more rational moments he will 
be compelled to say, "No wonder my wife has these 
faults: I have never helped her at all; I have only hin- 
dered her in all her Christian course, and I know I 
have been a continual source of vexation and irritation 
to her. No wonder she has had faults. I am ashamed 
that I have done so much to create and multiply them, 
and so very little ever in any way to improve her char- 
acter." 

When candid men come to consider all these things, 
— the human constitution, the tendency to unbelief, 
the impulses towards self-indulgence, and the strength 
of temptation, — they cannot but see that there is abun- 
dant occasion for all those faults in Christian character 
and conduct which they are wont to criticise so strin- 
gently. Yet often, perhaps commonly, wicked men 
make no allowance for the faults of Christians, but 
assume that every Christian ought to be spotless, while 
every sinner may make so much apology for his sin as 
quite to shield his conscience from conviction of guilt. 
Nothing, therefore, is more common than for impeni- 
tent men to triumph, devil-like, over any instance of 
stumbling in a professed Christian. Why don't they 
rather sympathize with their difficulties and their great 
work — as real philanthropists ? That brother who has 
a Christian sister does not help her at all, but, on the 
contrary, tries to ensnare her into sin. He should 
rather say, "I will not be a stumbling-block to my 
sister. If I cannot directly help her on in her Christian 
7 



146 SALVATION DIFFICULT TO THE CHRISTIAN. 

course, at least I will not hinder her." Let the impen- 
itent husband say, " My dear Christian wife! I know 
something about her difficulties; God forbid that I 
should play into the devil's hands, and try to help the 
devil on in his devilish work." Sinner, why don't you 
abstain from ensnaring your Christian friend ? There 
is One above who cares for him, who patiently toils 
for his salvation, and watches day and night over his 
progress, and who is pledged to save him at last. And 
can you hope to gain the favor of that Holy and Just 
Being by trying to ensnare and offend any of his little 
ones ? 



VIII. 
THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 



" If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and 
the sinner appear?" — / Peter iv. 18. 

I SAID in a former sermon, that the doctrine of the 
text is that the salvation of the righteous is difficult 
and that of the sinner impossible. In that sermon I 
discussed at length the first part of this subject, show- 
ing how and why the salvation of the righteous is dif- 
ficult. I am now to take up the remaining part and 
show how and why the salvation of the wicked is im- 
possible. 

Here let me premise in general that by the righteous 
is not meant those who have never sinned. It could 
not be difficult to save such as had not sinned against 
God. They are, in fact, already saved. But these 
righteous ones are those, who, having been sinners, 
now come to exercise faith in Christ, and of course 
become "heirs of that righteousness which is by faith." 
Vitally important to be considered here is the fact that 
the governmental difficulty in the way of being saved, 
growing out of your having sinned, even greatly, is all 
removed by Christ's atonement. No matter now how 
great your guilt, if you will only have faith in Jesus, 



148 THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 

and accept of his atonement as the ground of pardon 
for your sins. 

Hence the difficulty in the way of saving sinners is 
not simply that they have sinned, but that they will 
not now cease from sinning and believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

The salvation of sinners is therefore impossible. 

1. Because it is impossible for God by any means 
He can wisely employ, to persuade them to desist from 
sinning. They are so wicked and so perverse that they 
abuse to greater sin the very best means God employs 
to bring them to repentance. Hence God cannot 
wisely save them. 

When I say it is impossible for God to convert them, 
I do not imply that God lacks physical power to do 
anything which is the proper subject of such power. 
On this point there can be no question. But how can 
physical omnipotence be brought to bear directly 
upon mind and upon the heart? 

Again, let us consider, that it may not be wise for 
God to bring all the moral power of his universe to 
bear upon the sinner in this world. If this were wise 
and practicable, it might avail — for aught we can know; 
but since He does not do it, we infer that He re- 
frains for some wise rea.son. 

Certain limitations are fixed in the divine wisdom to 
the amount of moral influence which God shall employ 
in the case of the sinner. It is in view of this fact that 
I say, God finds it impossible to gain the sinner's con- 
sent to the gospel by any means that He can wisely 
employ. He goes as far as is really wise and as far as 



THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 1 49 

is on the whole good. This is undoubtedly the fact in 
the case. Yet all this does not avail. Hence it be- 
comes impossible that the sinner should be saved. 

2. Again, the sinner cannot be saved, because sal- 
vation from sin is an indispensable condition of salva- 
tion from hell. The being saved from sin must come 
first in order. Every sinner knows, and on reflection 
and self-inspection he must see, that his state of mind 
is such that he cannot respect himself. The elements 
of blessedness are not therefore in him, and cannot be 
until he meets the demands of his own moral nature. 

He knows, also, that he does not want to have any- 
thing to do with God — is afraid of God — both dreads 
and hates his presence — is afraid to die and go so near 
to God as death bears all men. He knows that all his 
relations to God are unpleasant in the extreme. How 
certainly, then, may he know that he is utterly unpre- 
pared for heaven. 

Now the sinner must be saved from this guilty and 
abominable state of mind. No change is needed in 
God — neither in his character, government, or position 
towards sin; but the utmost possible change and all 
the needed change is requisite on the part of the sin- 
ner. If salvation implies fitness for heaven, and if this 
implies ceasing from sin, then, of course, it is natur- 
ally and forever impossible that any sinner can be 
saved without holiness. 

3. The peace of heaven forbids that you should go 
there in your sins. I know you think of going to 
heaven ; you rather expect you shall go there at last ; 
your parents are there, — as you hope and believe, — 



150 THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 

and for this reason you the more want to go, that you 
may behold them in their glory. Oh, say you, should 
I not like to be where my father and mother are? 
And do you think you can follow them, in your sins? 
What c6uld you do in heaven if you were there? What 
could you say? What kind of songs could you sing 
there? What sort of happiness, congenial to your 
heart, could you hope to find there? 

Your pious mother in heaven — Oh, how changed! 
You heard her last words on earth — for they were 
words of prayer for your poor guilty soul ; but now she 
shines and sings above, all holy and pure. What 
sympathy could there be between you and her in 
heaven? Remember what Christ said when some one 
told Him that his mother and his brethren stood with- 
out, desiring to see Him. "Who," said He, "is my 
mother? and who are my brethren? He that doeth- 
the will of my Father, the same is my brother, and 
sister, and mother." The law of sympathy, therefore, 
in heaven turns not on earthly relationship, but on 
oneness of heart — on the common and mutual spirit 
of love and obedience towards their great common 
Father. 

Do you then expect that your mother would be glad 
to see you — that she would spread her mantle over you 
and take you up to heaven? Oh, if she were told that 
you were at the gate, she would hasten down to say, 
O my sinning child! you cannot enter heaven. Into 
this holy place nothing can by any means enter that 
"worketh abomination or maketh a lie." You cannot 
— no, you cannot come! 



THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. I 5 I 

If it were left to your own mother to decide the 
question of your admission, you could not come in. 
She would not open heaven's gate for your admission. 
She knows you would disturb the bliss of heaven. 
She knows you would mar its purity and be an element 
of discord in its sympathies and in its songs. 

You know it need not have been so. You might 
have given your heart to God in season, and then He 
would have shed his love abroad in your soul, and 
given you the Holy Ghost, and made you ripe for 
heaven. But you would not. All was done for you 
that God could wisely do; all that Christ could do; all 
that the Spirit of God could consistently do. But all 
was vain : all came to naught and availed nothing, be- 
cause you would not forego your sins — would not 
renounce them, even for everlasting . life. And now 
will heaven let you in? No. Nothing that worketh 
abomination can by any means go in there. 

4. Besides, it would not be for your own comfort 
to be there. You were never quite comfortable in 
spiritual society on earth ; in the prayer-meeting you 
were unhappy. As one individual said here: "Oh, 
what a place this is ! I cannot go across the street 
without being spoken to about my soul. How can I 
live here?" 

Let me tell you, it will be just as bad, nay, much 
worse, for you in heaven. That can be no place for 
you, sinner, since you hate, worst of all things on earth, 
those places and scenes which are most like heaven. 

5. The justice of God will not allow you to partici- 
pate in the joys of the saints. His relations to the 



152 THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 

universe make it indispensable that He should protect 
his saints from such society as you. They have had 
their discipline of trial in such society long enough : 
the scenes of their eternal reward will bring everlasting 
relief from this torture of their holy sympathies. Oh, 
how will God, their Infinite Father, throw around them 
the shield of his protection upon the mountains of par- 
adise, that lift their heads eternally under the sunlight 
of his glory ! 

His sense of propriety forbids that He should give 
you a place among his pure and trustful children. It 
would be so unfitting — so unsuitable! It would throw 
such discord into the sweet songs and sympathies of 
the holy ! 

Besides, as already hinted, it could be no kindness 
to you. It could not soothe, but only chafe and fret 
your spirit. Oh, if you were obliged to be there, how 
would it torment and irritate your soul ! 

If, then, the sinner cannot be saved and go to 
heaven, where shall he appear ? 

The question is a strong negation. They shall not 
appear among the righteous and the saved. This is a 
common form of speaking. Nehemiah said, "Shall 
such a man as I fleeV ' - No, indeed. This form of 
question is one of the strongest forms of negation that 
can be expressed in our language. 

Where, then, shall the ungodly and the sinner 
appear? In no desirable place or position — certainly. 
Not with the righteous in the judgment, for so God's 
word has often and most solemnly affirmed. Christ 
Himself affirms that, when all nations shall be gathered 



THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 1 53 

before Him for judgment, He will separate them, one 
from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from 
the goats. This separation, as the description shows, 
brings the righteous on the right hand and the wicked 
on the left. And it should be considered that this 
statement is made by Christ Himself, and that if any 
being in the universe knows, it must be He to whom is 
"given authority to execute judgment." He says He 
will separate them one from another according not to 
their national relations, or their family connections, 
but according to their character as friends or enemies 
to God. 

Oh, what a separation must this be in families and 
among dear earthly friends ! On this side will be a hus- 
band — on that a wife ; here a brother and there a sis- 
ter ; here one of two friends and there the other- — 
parted forever — -forever ! If this great division were to 
be struck between you to-day according to present 
character, how fearful the line of separation it would 
draw! Ask yourselves where it would pass through 
your own families and among the friends you love. 
How would it divide College classes — and Oh, how 
would *it smite many hearts with terror and conster- 
nation ! 

It is asked, where shall the ungodly appear? I ans- 
wer, certainly not in heaven, nor on the heavenly side. 
But they must be in the judgment, for God has said, 
He would bring all the race into judgment, and every 
secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. 
AH. are to be there, but some are on the right hand 
and some on the left. 



7* 



I 54 THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 

The ungodly and the sinner will appear in that day 
among the damned — among lost angels, doomed to 
the place prepared of old for their eternal abode. So 
Jesus has Himself told us. The very words of their 
sentence are on record : "Then will He say to them on 
his left hand, Depart, from me, ye cursed, into ever- 
lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." 
This is indeed the only place for which they are pre- 
pared ; and this the only society to which their hearts 
are congenial. They have of choice belonged to 
Satan's government on earth : at least, in the sense of 
doing precisely what he would have them do. Now, 
therefore, after such a training in selfishness and sin, 
they are manifestly fit for no other and better society 
than that of Satan and his angels. 

Let it not surprise any of you to be told that the 
amiable sinners of earth are preparing themselves — (re- 
maining enemies to God and radically selfish) — for the 
society of the arch spirit of evil. Just observe what 
restraints are thrown around sinners here. Mark how 
obviously they feel restrained, and show that they are 
restive and ill at ease. It may be read out of their very 
hearts that they would be glad to be vastly more 
wicked and selfish, that is, in their external life — if 
they might. It is wonderful to see in how many ways 
God's providence has walled around the sinner's path- 
way and hedged him in from outbreaking sin. 

But let these walls be torn away ; let all regard to 
his reputation among the good perish forever from his 
soul ; let despair of ever gaining God's favor take full 
possession of his heart, and rivet its iron grasp upon 



THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 1 55 

him, then what will he become? Take away all the re- 
straints of civil society — of laws and customs — of 
Christian example, and of Christian society ; let there 
be no more prayer made for him by pitying Christian 
friends, no more counsel given, or entreaty used to 
persuade him towards the good, then tell me, where is 
the sinner? How terribly will sin work out its dread- 
ful power to corrupt and madden the soul ! Bring to- 
gether myriads of desperate wretches, in the madness 
of their despair and rage and wrath against God and 
all the good, and Oh what a fearful world would they 
make ! What can be conceived more awful ! Yet this 
is the very world for which sinners are now preparing, 
and the only one for which they will be found in the 
judgment to be prepared. 

As this is the only world for which the sinner is pre- 
pared, so is it the only one which is appropriate and 
fitting, the case being viewed in respect to his influence 
for mischief. Here only, here in this prison-house of 
woe and despair, can sinners be effectually prevented 
from doing any further mischief in God's kingdom. 
Here they are cut off from all possibility of doing any 
more harm in God's universe. 

In this earthly state one sinner destroys much good; 
each and every sinner does much evil. God looks on, 
not unconcerned, but with amazing patience. He suf- 
fers a great deal of evil to be done, for the sake of 
securing an opportunity to try the power of forbear- 
ance and love upon the sinner's heart. You are abus- 
ing his love and defeating all its kind designs, but still 
God waits, till the point is reached where forbearance 



156 THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 

ceases to be virtue. Beyond this point, how can God 
wait longer? 

Here you find ample room for doing mischief. Many 
are around you whom you influence to evil and urge on 
towards hell. Some of them would be converted but 
for your influence to hold them back and ensnare their 
souls. If this were the place, I could name and call 
out some of you who are exerting a deadly influence 
upon your associates. Ah, to think of the souls you 
may ruin forever! God sees them, and sees how you 
are playing into the devil's hands to drag them down 
with you to an eternal hell. But ere long He will take 
you away from this sphere of doing evil. He will for- 
ever cut off your connection with those who can be 
influenced to evil, and leave around you only those 
associates who are ruined, despairing, and maddened 
in sin, like yourself. There He will lock you up, throw 
away the key, and let you rave on, and swear on, and 
curse on, and madden your guilty soul more and more 
forever ! Oh ! what inmates are those in this prison- 
house of the guilty and the lost! Why should not 
God fit up such a place for such beings, so lost to all 
good, and so given up to all the madness and guilt of 
rebellion ? 

There alone can sinners be made useful. They re- 
fused to make themselves useful by their voluntary 
agency on earth ; now God will make use of them in 
hell for some good. Do you ask me if I talk about sin 
being made useful? Yes, to be sure I do. God never 
permits anything to occur in his universe but He ex- 
tracts some good from it, overruling its influence, or 



THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. I 57 

making the correction and punishment of it a means of 
good. This is a great consolation to the holy, that no 
sinner can exist from whom God will not bring out 
some good. This principle is partially developed in 
society here, under civil government. The gallows is 
not the greatest evil in the world, nor the most un- 
mixed evil. Murder is much worse. States prisons 
are not the greatest earthly evils. Government can 
make great use of those men who will not obey law. 
It can make them examples and lift them up as bea- 
cons of warning, to show the evil of disobeying whole- 
some laws. A great many men have had strong and 
useful impressions made on their minds, as, riding 
through Auburn on the railroad, they have marked 
those lofty frowning walls and battlements which en- 
close and guard the culprits immured within. Many a 
hard heart has quailed before those walls, and the 
terrors of those cells behind. If the outside view does 
not avail to awe the spirit of transgression, give them 
the inside view and some of its heart-desolating expe- 
rience. These things do good. They tame the passion 
for evil-doing, and impress a salutary fear on the hard- 
ened and reckless. If so under all the imperfections of 
human government, how much more under the perfect 
administration of the divine ! 

God cannot afford to lose your influence in his uni- 
verse. He will rejoice to use you for the glory of his 
mercy, if you will ; Oh yes ! He will put away your 
sins far as the East is from the West, and will put a 
robe of beauty and glory upon you, and a sweet harp 
in your hands, and a song of praise on your lips, and 



158 THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 

the melody of heaven's love in your heart, — all these, 
if you will. But if you will not, then He has other 
attributes besides mercy that need to be illustrated. 
Justice will come in for its claim, and to illustrate this 
He will make you an example of the bitter misery of 
sinning. He will put you deep in hell ; and the holy, 
beholding you there, will see that God's kingdom is 
safe and pure, and in their everlasting song they will 
shout, "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God 
Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou King of 
saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify 
thy name? for thy judgments are made manifest." 

This is the only way in which God can make you 
useful in his kingdom, if you will not repent. He has 
tried every means of bringing you to repentance, but 
all in vain ; He cannot get your consent. Of course 
there is no alternative but to make you an example to 
deter all other moral agents from sinning. 

There is no other way for God to meet the demands 
of the public weal, but to make you an example to 
show his abhorrence of sin. God is most thoroughly 
economical of his resources. He husbands everything 
to the very best account. Everything must, under his 
hand, be made conducive in some way to the general 
good. Even of your misery He will be as economical 
as He can, and will carefully turn it all to the very best 
account. Every groan and every throb and pang of 
your agonized soul will be turned to use. Yes, rely 
upon it ; all this agony, which does you no good, but 
is to you only unmingled and unalleviated woe, will be 
a warning beacon, under God's hand, crying out in 



THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 1 59 

tones of thunder, Stand away! stand away! lest you 
come into this place of torment ; stand afar from sin — 
fear this awful sin — watch against it, for it is an awful 
thing to sin against Jehovah. I have tried it, and here 
I am in woe unutterable ! Oh what a testimony, when 
all hell shall roll up one mighty accumulated groan ! a 
groan, whose awful voice shall be, Stand in awe and 
sin not, for God is terrible in his judgments upon the 
guilty. 

O sinner, think of it. God wants you now to cry 
out to every fellow-sinner, and warn him away from 
the brink of hell. Will you do it? What are you in 
fact doing? Are you preparing yourself to go out as a 
missionary of light and love and mercy to the be- 
nighted ? Are you pluming your wings, as an angel of 
mercy, to bear the messages of salvation ? Oh no ! you 
refuse to do this, or anything of the sort. You disdain 
to preach such a gospel and to preach it so ! But God 
will make you preach it in another way; for, as I said, 
He is thoroughly economical of the resources of his 
kingdom, and all must do something in some way for 
his glory. He will have every thing preach — saints 
preach and sinners preach ; yea, sinners in hell must 
preach for God and for his truth. He will make your 
very groans and tears — those "tears that ever fall, but 
not in Mercy's sight" — they will preach, and will tell 
over and over the dreadful story of mercy abused and 
sin persisted in, and waxing worse and worse, till the 
bolts of vengeance broke at last upon your guilty head ! 
Over and over will those groans and tears repeat the 
fearful story, so that when the. angels shall come from 



l6o THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 

the remotest regions of the universe, they shall cry out, 
What is here? What mean those groans? What 
mean those flames, wreathing around their miserable 
victims ? Ah ! the story told then will make them cry 
aloud, Why will God's creatures sin against his throne? 
Can there be such madness in beings gifted with reas- 
on's light? 

These angels know that the only thing that can 
secure public confidence in a ruler is fidelity in the ex- 
ecution of his law. Hence it is to them no wonder 
that, there being sin to punish, God should punish it 
with most exemplary severity. They expect this, and 
seeing its awful demonstrations before their eyes only 
serves to impress the more deeply on their souls the 
holiness and justice of the great and blessed God. 

REMARKS. 

I. From this standpoint we can easily see what we 
are to understand by the doctrine of election — a doc- 
trine often misstated, and often perverted to a stone of 
stumbling and a rock of offence. The simple and plain 
view of it is, that God, foreseeing all the future of your 
existence as perfectly as if all were in fact present, de- 
termined to deal with you according to your voluntary 
course; determined to offer you the gospel, and, on 
your refusal of it, to give you over to the doom of 
those who deny the Lord that bought them. Election 
is no new or different plan of divine administration, 
aside from and unlike what the Bible reveals as the 
plan of saving men through the gospel. It is this very 
plan of which the Bible is full, only that it contem- 



THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. l6l 

plates this plan as framed by the divine Mind " before 
the world began." 

2. If you will now consent to give your heart to 
God, you can be saved. No election will hinder you. 
The doctrine of election is simply the fact that God 
sends forth his Spirit to save as many as by the best 
system of influences He wisely can save; and surely 
this never can hinder any sinner from repenting and 
gaining salvation, for the very good reason that this 
plan contemplates saving and not damning men, as its 
object, and is in fact the sinner's only hope. 

Come then, repent and believe the gospel, if you 
would be saved. No election will hinder you, and 
neither will it save you without your own repentance 
unto life. 

How then shall the case turn with you ? Almost all 
who are ever converted are brought in, early in life. 
Not one in a hundred is converted after the age of 
forty. The old among the converts are always few — 
only one among a host — one in a long space of time; 
like scattering beacon lights upon the mountain tops, 
that the aged may not quite despair of salvation. But 
God is intensely interested in saving the young, for He 
needs and loves to use them in his service. Oh how 
his heart goes forth after the young ! How often has 
my soul been affected as I have thought of his parental 
interest for the salvation of this great multitude of 
youth ! They come here from pious homes, freighted 
with the prayers of pious fathers and mothers, — and 
what shall be the result ? What has been the result, 
as thus far developed, with you ? Has anything been 



1 62 THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 

really secured as yet ? Is anything fixed and done for 
eternity? How many times have you been called to 
decide, but have decided wrong — all wrong ? You 
have been pressed earnestly with God's claims, and 
many a time have prayers and groans gone forth from 
the Christian heart of this whole community; but ah ! 
where are you still ? Not yet safe; ah, in greater peril 
than ever ! Often reproved, hardening your neck; and 
what next ? Suddenly destroyed, and that witJiout 
remedy. Suppose even now the curtain should drop, — 
you are dead ! And whither, then, goes the undying, 
guilty soul ? 

3. How great the mistake made by Universalists, 
that all men will be saved, when the Bible holds that 
even the salvation of the righteous is difficult, and that 
of the sinner, impossible. How strangely they misread 
the whole Bible ! Go not in their ways, O ye youth 
of Oberlin ! 

But what are you doing ? Do you flatter yourselves 
that the work of salvation is all so easy that it may be 
safely and surely done during a few of life's last mo- 
ments ? Will you presume, as the man did who said 
he should need but five minutes to prepare to die ? 
Hear his story. What was the result of his system ? 
Disease came on. It smote him with its strong hand. 
Delirium set in. Reason tottered and fell from her 
throne, and so he died! Go on, thou young man; 
drive on, headlong and reckless; make a bold business 
of sinning, and bear it on with bold front and high 
hand; but know thou that for all these things God will 
bring thee into judgment. Consider what tidings we 



THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 1 63 

hear of our former pupils who once sat as you now sit, 
and once heard the gospel as you may hear it now. 
There, one is dead; and now another — and now an- 
other. In rapid succession they drop from the stage 
of mortal life — and what next ? What more ? Soon 
we shall meet them in the fearful judgment ! 

Brethren, what will the universe say of us, if we neg- 
lect to labor for the salvation of these precious youth ? 
What will the parents of these dear youth say to us 
when we shall meet them at the Saviour's bar ? 

I have spoken to you of the difficulties and the 
struggles of the Christian — more and greater far than 
the ungodly are usually aware of; — those agonies of 
prayer, those conflicts against temptation; out of all 
which it is only great grace that can bring him forth, 
conqueror and more than conqueror. If he is saved 
with so much difficulty, how does it become you to 
strive to enter in at the strait gate ? Are you aware 
that the smooth sea of temptation bears you on to the 
breakers of death ? Were you ever at Niagara ? How 
smooth and deceitful those waters, as they move along 
quite up above the draft of the suction from below ! 
But lower down, see how those same waters roar, and 
dash, and foam, and send up their thick mists to the 
heavens above you. Yet in the upper stream you glide 
gently and noiselessly along, dreaming of no danger, and 
making no effort to escape. In a moment you are in 
the awful current, dashing headlong down; and where 
are you now ? 

And what should you do ? Like Bunyan's Christian 
pilgrim, put your fingers in both ears, and run, shout- 



164 THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IMPOSSIBLE. 

ing, Life ! life ! eternal LIFE ! How many of you are 
sliding along on the smooth, deceitful stream, above, 
yet only just above, the awful rapids and the dreadful 
cataract of death ! What if, this night, delirium should 
seize upon you ? Or what if the Spirit should leave 
you forever, and it should be said of you, " He is joined 
to his idols, let him alone" ? 

What do you say? Do I hear you saying, "If sal- 
vation is possible for me — if by putting forth the whole 
energy of my will I can ensure it, Oh let me do so ! 
Help me, O ye ministers of Christ's gospel ! Help me, 
ye Christians, who pray between the porch and the 
altar ! Help me, O ye heavens of heavens, for this is 
a thing of life and death, and the redemption of the 
soul is most precious ! " 

Surely, O ye sinners, it is time that you should set 
down your foot in most fixed determination, and say, 
"/ must and I zvill have heaven ! How can I ever 
bear the doom of the damjied ! " 



IX. 

ANY ONE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN IS 
FATAL TO THE SOUL. 



"Whosoever shall keep the whole law,, and yet offend in one point, 
is guilty of all." — James ii. 10. 

"He that is unjust in the least, is also unjust in much." — Luke xvi. 
10. 

IN speaking from these words, I inquire, 
./. What is it to persist in sin ? 

i . To persist in sin is not to abandon it. If a per- 
son should only occasionally, under the force of temp- 
tation, fall into a sin, any form of sin, and should 
repent and abandon it for a time, and should only occa- 
sionally be overcome by a temptation to commit that 
form of sin, it would not be proper to say that he per- 
sisted 'in it; for, according to this supposition, he is not 
wilful, or obstinate, or habitual in the commission of 
this sin, but it is rather accidental, in the sense that the 
temptation sometimes overtakes and overcomes him, 
notwithstanding his habitual abandonment of it and 
resistance to it. But if the commission be habitual, a 
thing allowed, a thing indulged in habitually, — such a 
sin is persisted in. 

2. A sin is persisted in, although it may not be 
outwardly repeated, if it be not duly confessed. An 



1 66 ANY ONE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN 

individual may be guilty of a great sin, which he may 
not repeat in the act ; nevertheless, while he neglects 
or refuses to confess it, it is still on his conscience un- 
repented of, and, in that sense, is still persisted in. If 
the sin has been committed to the injury of some per- 
son or persons, and be not duly confessed to the par- 
ties injured, it is still persisted in. 

If any of you had slandered his neighbor to his 
great injury, it would not do for you to merely abstain 
from repeati?ig that offence. The sin is not abandoned 
until it is confessed, and reparation made, so far as 
confession can make it. If not confessed, the injury is 
allowed to work ; and therefore the sin is virtually 
repeated, and therefore persisted in. 

Again, 3. A sin is persisted in when due repara- 
tion has not been made. If you have wronged a per- 
son, and it is in your power to make him restitution 
and satisfaction, then, so long as you persist in neg- 
lecting or refusing to do so, you do not forsake the 
sin, but persist in it. Suppose one who had stolen 
your property, resolved never to repeat the act, and 
never to commit the like again ; and yet he refuses 
to make restitution and restore the stolen property as 
far as is in his power ; — of course he still persists in 
that sin, and the wrong is permitted to remain. 

I once had a conversation with a young man to this 
effect : He had been in the habit of stealing. He 
was connected with a business in which it was possible 
for him to steal money in small sums, which he had 
repeatedly done. He afterwards professed to become 
a Christian, but he made no restitution. He found in 



IS FATAL TO THE SOUL. 1 67 

the Bible this text, "Let him that stole steal no more." 
He resolved not to steal any more, and there let the 
matter rest. Of course he had no evidence of accept- 
ance with God', for he could not have been accepted. 
However he flattered himself that he was a Christian 
for a long time, until he heard a sermon on confession 
and restitution, which woke him up. He then came 
to me for the conversation of which I have spoken. 

He was told that, if it was in his power, he must 
make restitution and give back the stolen money, or 
he could not be forgiven. But observe his perversion 
of Scripture. To be sure it is the duty of those who 
have stolen property to steal no more ; but this is not 
all. He is bound to restore that which he has stolen, 
as well as to steal no more. This is a plain doctrine 
of Scripture, as well as of reason and conscience. 

II. I now come to the main doctrine of our texts 
— that any one form of sin persisted in is fatal to the 
soicl. 

That is, it is impossible for a person to be saved 
who continues to commit any form of known sin. 

1. It is fatal to the soul because any one form of 
sin persisted in is a violation of the spirit of the whole 
law. The text in James settles that : "Whosoever 
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, 
is guilty of all." The law requires supreme love to 
God, and equal love to our fellow-men. 

Now sin is selfishness ; and always assumes the pref- 
erence of self-interest and self-gratification to obedi- 
ence to God, or to our duty to our fellow-men. 

Whosoever, therefore, habitually prefers himself to 



1 68 ANY ONE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN 

God, or is selfish in regard to his fellow-men, cannot 
be a Christian. If in any one thing he violates the 
law of love, he breaks the spirit of the whole law, and 
is living in sin. 

2. Persistence in any form of sin cannot consist with 
supreme love to God or equal love to our fellow-men. 
If we love God more than ourselves, we cannot dis- 
oblige Him for the sake of obliging ourselves. We can- 
not displease Him, knowingly and habitually, for the 
sake of pleasing ourselves. 

For we supremely love whom we supremely desire 
to please. If we supremely desire to please ourselves, 
we love ourselves supremely. If we love God supreme- 
ly, we desire supremely to please Him ; and cannot, 
consistently with the existence of this love in the soul, 
consent to displease Him. 

Under the force of a powerful temptation that di- 
verts and partially distracts the mind, one who loves 
God may be induced to commit an occasional sin, and 
occasionally to displease God. 

But if he love God supremely, he will consent to 
displease Him only under the pressure of a present and 
powerful temptation that diverts attention and par- 
tially distracts the mind. So that his sin cannot be 
habitual ; and no form of sin can habitually have do- 
minion over him if he is truly a Christian. 

3. The text in James affirms the impossibility of 
real obedience in one thing, and of persistent disobe- 
dience in another, at the same time. It seems to me a 
great and common error to suppose that persons can 
really obey God in the spirit of obedience in some 



IS FATAL TO THE SOUL. 1 69 

things, while at the same time there are certain other 
things in which they withhold obedience ; in other 
words, that they can obey one commandment and dis- 
obey another at the same time — that they can perform 
one duty acceptably, and at the same time refuse to 
perform other duties. 

Now the text in James is designed flatly to contra- 
dict this view of the subject. It asserts as plainly as 
possible, that disobedience in any one point is wholly 
inconsistent with true obedience, for the time being, in 
any other respect ; that the neglect of one duty ren- 
ders it impossible, for the time being, to perform any 
other duty with acceptance ; in other words, no one 
can obey in one thing and disobey in another at the 
same time. 

But 4. Real obedience to God involves and im- 
plies supreme regard for his authority. 

Now if any one has a supreme regard for God's 
authority in any one thing, he will yield to his author- 
ity in every thing. 

But if he can consent to act against the authority of 
God in any one thing for the time being, he cannot be 
accepted in anything ; for it must be that, while in one 
thing he rejects the authority of God, he does not 
properly accept it in any other. Henqe, if obedience 
to God be real in anything, it extends for the time 
being, and must extend, to everything known to be the 
will of God. 

Again, 5. One sin persisted in is fatal to the soul, 
because it is a real rejection of God's whole authority. 
If a man violates knowingly any one of God's com- 



170 ANY ONE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN 

mandments as such, he rejects the authority of God; 
and if in this he rejects the authority of God, he rejects 
his whole authority, for the time being, on every sub- 
ject. So that if he appears to obey in other things 
while in one thing he sets aside and contemns God's 
authority, it is only the appearance of obedience, and 
not real obedience. He acts from a wrong motive in 
the case in which he appears to obey. He certainly 
does not act out of supreme respect to God's author- 
ity; and therefore he does not truly obey Him. But 
surely one who rejects the whole authority of God can- 
not be saved. 

I fear it is very common for persons to make a fatal 
mistake here ; and really to suppose that they are ac- 
cepted in their obedience in general, although in some 
things or thing they habitually neglect or refuse to do 
their duty. 

They live, and know that they live, in the omission 
of some duty habitually, or in the violation of their 
own consciences on some point habitually ; and yet 
they keep up so much of the form of religion, and do 
so many things that they call duties, that they seem to 
think that these will compensate for the sin in which 
they persist. Or rather, so many duties are performed, 
and so much of religion is kept up, as will show, they 
think, that upon the whole they are Christians ; will 
afford them ground for hope, and give them reasons to 
think that they are accepted while they are indulging, 
and know that they are, in some known sin. 

They say, To be sure, I know that I neglect that 
duty ; I know that I violate my conscience in that 



IS FATAL TO THE SOUL. \J\ 

thing ; but I do so many other things that are my duty, 
that I have good reason to believe that I am a Chris- 
tian. 

Now this is a fatal delusion. Such persons are to- 
tally deceived in supposing that they really obey God 
in anything. "He that is unjust in the least, is really 
unjust also in much ;" and "whosoever will keep the 
whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all." 

Again, 6. Any form of sin persisted in is fatal to 
the soul, because it is inconsistent with true repent- 
ance. Sin, however great, will be forgiven if repented 
of. But what is repentance? Repentance is not mere 
sorrow for sin, but it is the /^^/-renunciation of sin ; 
it is the giving up of sin from the heart, and of all sin 
as sin ; it is the rejection of it because it is that abom- 
inable thing which God hates ; it is the turning of the 
heart from self-seeking to supreme love to God and 
equal love to our fellow-men ; it is heart -reformation ; 
it is /Wr/-rejection of sin ; it is heart -turning to God. 
Now, while any one sin is persisted in and not given 
up, there can be no true repentance ; for, after all, this 
form of sin is preferred to the will of God — the indul- 
gence of sense in this particular is preferred to pleasing 
God. There can, therefore, be no true repentance 
unless all known sin be for the time utterly abandoned. 

7. Persistence in any form of sin is fatal to the soul, 
because it is utterly inconsistent With saving faith. 
That faith is saving which actually does save from sin ; 
and no other faith is saving or can be. That faith is 
nstifying which is sanctifying. True faith works by 
love ; it purifies the heart ; it overcomes the world. 



172 ANY ONE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN 

These are expressly affirmed to be the characteristics 
of saving faith. Let no one suppose that his faith is 
justifying, when, in fact, it does not save him from the 
commission of sin ; for he cannot be justified while he 
persists in the commission of any known sin. If his 
faith does not purify his heart, if it does not overcome 
the world and overcome his sins, it can never save 
him. 

Again, 8. Persistence in any one form of sin is fatal 
to the soul, because it withstands the power of the 
gospel. The gospel does not save whom it does not 
sanctify. If sin in any form withstands the saving 
power of the gospel ; if sin does not yield under the 
influence of the gospel ; if it be persisted in, in spite of 
all the power of the gospel on the soul ; of course the 
gospel does not, cannot, save that soul. Such sin is 
fatal. 

But again, 9. Persistence in any one form of sin is 
fatal to the soul, because the grace of the gospel can- 
not pardon what it cannot eradicate. 

As I have already said, a sin cannot be pardoned 
while it is persisted in. Some persons seem to sup- 
pose that, although they persist in many forms of sin, 
yet the grace of God will pardon sins that it has not 
power to eradicate and subdue. But this is a great 
mistake. The Bible everywhere expressly teaches this 
— that if the gospel fails to eradicate sin, it can never 
save the soul from the consequences of that sin. 

But again, 10. If the gospel should pardon sin 
which it did not eradicate, this would not save the 
soul. 



IS FATAL TO THE SOUL. 1 73 

Suppose God should not punish sin ; still, if the soul 
be left to the self-condemnation of sin, its salvation is 
naturally impossible. It were of no use to the sinner 
to be pardoned, if left under this self-condemnation. 
This is plain. Let no one, therefore, think that, if his 
sins are not subdued by the grace of the gospel, he can 
be saved. 

But again, 1 1, and lastly. Sin is a unit in its spirit 
and root. It consists in preferring self to God. 

Hence, if any form of preferring self to God be per- 
sisted in, no sin has been truly abandoned ; God is not 
supremely loved ; and the soul cannot, by any possibil- 
ity, in such a case, be saved. 

REMARKS. 

1. What a delusion the self-righteous are under. 
Every man is aware that he has sinned at some time, 

and that he is a sinner. But there are many who think 
that, upon the whole, they perform so many good 
deeds, that they are safe. They are aware that they 
are habitually neglecting God and neglecting duty, 
that they neither love God supremely nor their neigh- 
bor as themselves ; yet they are constantly prone to 
give themselves credit for a great deal of goodness. 
Now let them understand that there is no particle of 
righteousness in them, nor of true goodness, while 
they live -in neglect of any known duty to man — while 
they are constantly prone to give themselves credit for 
a great deal of goodness. But they seem to think that 
they have a balance of good deeds. 

2. How many persons indulge in little sins, as they 



174 ANY 0NE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN 

call them ; but they are too Jionest, they think, to in- 
dulge in great crimes. Now both these texts contra- 
dict this view. "He that is unjust in that which is 
least, is unjust also in much." If a man yields to a 
slight temptation to commit what he calls a small sin, 
it cannot be a regard for God that keeps him from 
committing great sins. He may abstain from commit- 
ting great sins through fear of disgrace or of punish- 
ment, but not because he loves God. If he does not 
love God well enough to keep from yielding to slight 
temptations to commit small sins, surely he does not 
love Him well enough to keep from yielding to great 
temptations to commit great sins. 

Again, 3. We see the delusion of those who are 
guilty of habitual dishonesties, tricks of trade for ex- 
ample, and yet profess to be Christians. 

How many there are who are continually allowing 
themselves to practise little dishonesties, little decep- 
tions, and to tell little lies in trade ; and yet think 
themselves Christians ! Now this delusion is awful ; it 
is fatal. Let all such be on their guard, and under- 
stand it. 

But again, 4. We see the delusion of those pro- 
fessors of religion who allow themselves habitually to 
neglect some known duty, and yet think themselves 
Christians. They shun some cross ; there is something 
that they know they ought to do which they do not, 
and this is habitual with them. Perhaps all their 
Christian lives they have shunned some cross, or neg- 
lected the performance of some duty, and yet they 



IS FATAL TO THE SOUL. 175 

think themselves Christians. Now let them know 
assuredly that they are self-deceived. . 

5. Many, I am sorry to say, preach a gospel that 
is a dishonor to Christ. They really maintain, — at 
least they make this impression, though they may not 
teach it in words and form, — that Christ really justifies 
men while they are living in the habitual indulgence of 
known sin. 

Many preachers seem not to be aware of the impres- 
sion which they really leave upon their people. Prob- 
ably, if they were asked whether they hold and preach 
that any sin is forgiven which is not repented of; 
whether men are really justified while they persist in 
known sin, they would say, No. But, after all, in their 
preaching, they leave a very different impression. For 
example, how common it is to find ministers who are 
in this position : You ask them how many members 
they have in their church. Perhaps they will tell you, 
Five hundred. How many, do you think, are living up 
to the best light which they have ? How many of 
them are living from day to day with a conscience void 
of offence toward God and toward man, and are not 
indulging in any known sin either of omission or com- 
mission ? who are living and aiming to discharge punc- 
tually and fully every duty of heart to God and to all 
their fellow-men ? Push the inquiry, and ask, How 
many of your church can you honestly say, before 
God, you think are endeavoring to live without sin? 
who do not indulge themselves in any form of trans- 
gression or omission ? 

They will tell you, perhaps, that they do not know 



176 ANY ONE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN 

a member of their church, or at least they know but 
very few, of whom they can say this. Now ask them 
further, How many of your church do you suppose to 
be in a state of justification ? and you will find that 
they have the impression that the great mass of their 
church are in a state of justification with God ; in a 
state of acceptance with Him; in a state in which they 
are prepared to die; and if they should die just in this 
state by any sudden stroke of Providence, and they 
should be called upon to preach their funeral sermon, 
they would assume that they had gone to heaven. 

While they will tell you that they know of but very 
few of their church of whom they can conscientiously 
say, I do not believe he indulges himself in any known 
sin; yet, let one of that great majority, of whom he 
cannot say this, suddenly die, and this pastor be called 
to attend his funeral, would he not comfort the mourn- 
ers by holding out the conviction that he was a Chris- 
tian, and had gone to heaven ? Now this shows that 
the pastor himself, whatever be his theoretical views of 
being justified while indulging in any known sin, is yet, 
after all, practically an antinomian; and practically 
holds, believes, and teaches that Christ justifies people 
while they are living in the neglect of known duty, 
while they are knowingly shunning some cross, while 
they persist in known sin. Ministers, indeed, often 
leave this impression upon their churches, (and I fear 
Calvinistic ministers quite generally,) that if they are 
converted, or ever were, they are justified, although 
they may be living habitually and always in the indul- 
gence of more or less known sin, — living in the habitual 



IS FATAL TO THE SOUL. 1 77 

neglect of known duty, indulging various forms of self- 
ishness. And yet they are regarded as justified Chris- 
tians: and get the impression, even from the preaching 
of their ministers, that all is well with them; that they 
really believe the gospel and are saved by Christ. 

Now this is really antinomianism. It is a faith with- 
out law; it is a Saviour that saves in and not from sin. 
It is presenting Christ as really setting aside the moral 
law and introducing another rule of life; as forgiving 
sin while* it is persisted in, instead of saving from sin. 

6. Many profess to be Christians, and are indulg- 
ing the hope of eternal life, who know that they never 
have forsaken all forms of sin; that in some things 
they have always fallen short of complying with the 
demands of their own consciences. They have indulged 
in what they call little sins; they have allowed them- 
selves in practices, and in forms of self-indulgence, that 
they cannot justify; they have never reformed all their 
bad habits, and have never lived up to what they have 
regarded as their whole duty. They have never really 
intended to do this; have never resolutely set them- 
selves, in the strength of Christ, to give up every form 
of sin, both of omission and commission; but, on the 
contrary, they know that they have always indulged 
themselves in what they condemn. And yet they call 
themselves Christians ! But this is as contrary to the 
teaching of the Bible as possible. The Bible teaches, 
not only that men are condemned by God if they in- 
dulge themselves in what they condemn; but, also, 
that God condemns them if they indulge in that the 

lawfulness of which they so much as doubt. If they 
8* 



178 ANY ONE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN 

indulge in any one thing the lawfulness of which is in 
their own estimation doubtful, God condemns them. 
This is the express teaching of the Bible. But how 
different is this from the common ideas that many pro- 
fessors of religion have ! 

7. Especially is this true of those who habitually 
indulge in the neglect of known duty, and who habitu- 
ally shun the cross of Christ. Many persons neglect 
family prayer, and yet admit that they ought to per- 
form it. How many females will even stay away from 
the female prayer-meeting to avoid performing the duty 
of taking a part in those meetings ! How many in- 
dulge the hope that they are saved, while they know 
that they are neglecting, and always have neglected, 
some things, and even many things, that they admit to 
be their duty!. They continue to live on in those omis- 
sions; but they think they are Christians because they 
do not engage in anything that is openly disgraceful, 
or, as they suppose, very bad. 

Now there are many that entirely overlook the real 
nature of sin. The law of God is positive. It com- 
mands us to consecrate all our powers to his service 
and glory; to love Him with all our heart and our 
neighbor as ourself. Now to neglect to do this is sin; 
it is positive transgression; it is an omission which al- 
ways involves a refusal to do what God requires us to 
do. In other words, sin is the refusal to do what God 
requires us to do. It is the neglect to fulfil our obli- 
gations. If one neglects to pay you what he owes you, 
do you not call that sin, especially if the neglect in- 



IS FATAL TO THE SOUL. J 79 

volves necessarily the refusal to pay when he has the 
means of payment ? 

Sin really consists in withholding from God and man 
that love and service which we owe them — a withhold- 
ing from God and man their due. 

Now, where any one withholds from God and man 
what is their due, is this honest ? is this Christian ? 
And while this withholding is persisted in, can an indi- 
vidual be in a justified state ? No, indeed ! 

The Bible teaches that sin is forgiven when it is re- 
pented of, but never while it is persisted in. The Bible 
teaches that the grace of God can save us from sin — 
from the commission of sin, or can pardon when we 
repent and put away sin; but it never teaches that sin 
can be forgiven while it is persisted in. 

Let me ask you who are here present, Do you think 
you are Christians? Do you think, if you should die 
in your present state, that you are prepared to go to 
heaven? that you are already justified in Christ? 

Well now, let me further ask, Are you so much as 
seriously and solemnly intending to perform to Christ, 
from day to day, your whole duty, and to omit noth- 
ing that you regard as your duty either to God or man ? 
Are you not habitually shunning some cross? omitting 
something because it is a trial to perforin that duty? 
Are you not avoiding the performance of disagreeable 
duties, and things that are trying to flesh and blood? 
Are you not neglecting the souls of those around you ? 
Are you not failing to love your neighbor as yourself? 
Are you not neglecting something that you yourself 



l8o ANY ONE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN 

confess to be your duty? and is not this habitual with 
you ? 

And now, do you suppose that you are really to be 
saved while guilty of these neglects habitually and 
persistently? I beg of you, be not deceived. 

8. The impression of many seems to be, that grace 
will pardon what it cannot prevent ; in other words, 
that if the grace of the gospel fails to save people from 
the commission of sin in this life, it will, nevertheless, 
pardon them and save them in sin, if it cannot save 
from sin. 

Now, really, I understand the gospel as teaching 
that men are saved from sin first, and, as a conse- 
quence, from hell; and not that they are saved from 
hell while they are not saved from sin. Christ sancti- 
fies when He saves. And this is the very first element 
or idea of salvation, saving from sin. "Thou shalt call 
his name Jesus," said the angel, "for He shall save 
his people from their sins." " Having raised up his 
Son Jesus," said the apostle, "He hath sent Him to 
bless you in turning every one of you from his iniqui- 
ties." 

Let no one expect to be saved from hell, unless the 
grace of the gospel saves him first from sin. 

Again, 9. There are many who think that they 
truly obey God in most things, while they know that 
they habitually disobey Him in some things. They 
seem to suppose that they render acceptable obedience 
tO'most of the commandments of God, while they are 
aware that some of the commandments they habitually 
disregard. Now the texts upon which I am speaking, 



IS FATAL TO THE SOUL. l8l 

expressly deny this position, and plainly teach that if 
in any one thing obedience is refused, if any one com- 
mandment is disobeyed, no other commandment is ac- 
ceptably obeyed, or can be for the time being. 

Do let me ask you who are here present, Is not this 
impression in your minds that, upon the whole, you 
have evidence that you are Christians? 

You perform so many duties and avoid so many 
outbreaking sins; you think that there is so great a 
balance in your favor, — that you obey so many more 
commands than you disobey, — that you call yourselves 
Christians, although you are aware that some of the 
commandments you never seriously intended to comply 
with, and that in some things you have always allowed 
yourself to fall short of known duty. Now, if this im- 
pression is in your minds, remember that it is not 
authorized at all by the texts upon which I am speak- 
ing, nor by any part of the Bible. You are really dis- 
obeying the spirit of the whole law. You do not truly 
embrace the gospel; your faith does not purify your 
heart and overcome the world; it does not work by 
love, and therefore it is a spurious faith, and you are 
yet in your sins. Will you consider this? Will you 
take home this truth to your inmost soul? 

10. There are many who are deceiving themselves 
by indulging the belief that they are forgiven, while 
they have not made that confession and restitution 
which is demanded by the gospel. In other words, 
they have not truly repented; they have not given up 
their sin. They do not outwardly repeat it; neither 
do they in heart forsake it. 



1 82 ANY ONE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN 

They have not made restitution; and therefore they 
hold on to their sin, supposing all is right if they do 
not repeat it; that Christ will forgive them while they 
make no satisfaction, even while satisfaction is in their 
power. This is a great delusion, and is greatly dis- 
honoring to Christ. As if Christ would disgrace him- 
self by forgiving you while you persist in doing your 
neighbor wrong! 

This He cannot do; this He will not, must not do. 
He loves your neighbor as really as He loves you. He 
is infinitely willing to forgive provided you repent and 
make the restitution in your power; but until then, He 
cannot, will not. 

I must remark again, 11. That from the teachings 
of these texts it is evident that no one truly obeys in 
any one thing, while he allows himself to disobey in any 
other thing. To obey God truly in any thing, we must 
settle the question of universal obedience; else all our 
pretended obedience is vain. If we do not yield the 
whole to God; if we do not go the whole length of se- 
riously giving up all, and renouncing in heart every 
form of sin, and make up our minds to obey Him in 
everything, we do not truly obey Him in anything. 

Again, 12. From this subject we can see why there 
are so many professors of religion that get no peace, 
and have no evidence of their acceptance. They are 
full of doubts and fears. They have no religious en- 
joyment, but are groping on in darkness and doubt; 
are perhaps praying for evidence and trying to get 
peace of mind, but fall utterly short of doing so. 

Now, in such cases you will often find that some 



IS FATAL TO THE SOUL. 1 83 

known sin is indulged; some known duty continually 
neglected; some known cross shunned; something 
avoided which they know to be their duty, because it 
is trying to them to fulfil their obligation. It is amaz- 
ing to see to what an extent this is true. 

Some time since, an aged gentleman visited me, who 
came from a distance as an inquirer. He had been a 
preacher, and indeed was then a minister of the gospel; 
but he had given up preaching because of the many 
doubts that he had of his acceptance with Christ. He 
was in great darkness and trouble of mind; had been 
seeking religion, as he said, a great part of his life; and 
had done everything, as he supposed, in his power, to 
obtain evidence of his acceptance. 

When I came to converse with him, I found that 
there were sins on his conscience that had been there 
for many years; plain cases of known transgression, of 
known neglect of duty indulged all this while. Here 
he was, striving to get peace, striving to get evidence, 
and even abandoning preaching because he could not 
get evidence; while all the time these sins lay upon 
his conscience. Amazing ! amazing ! 

Again, 13. I remark, That total abstinence from 
all known sin is the only practicable rule of life. To 
sin in one thing and obey in another at the same time, 
is utterly impossible. We must give up, in heart and 
purpose, all sin, or we in reality give up none. It is 
utterly impossible for a man to be truly religious at 
all, unless in the purpose of his heart he is wholly so 
and universally so. He cannot be a Christian at home 



1 84 ANY ONE FORM OF SIN PERSISTED IN 

and a sinner abroad; or a sinner at home and a Chris- 
tian abroad. 

He cannot be a Christian on the Sabbath, and a 
selfish man in his business or during the week. A 
man must be one or the other; he must yield every- 
thing to God, or in fact he yields nothing to God. 

He cannot serve God and mammon. Many are try- 
ing to do so, but it is impossible. They cannot love 
both God and the world; they cannot serve two mas- 
ters; they cannot please God and the world. It is the 
greatest, and yet the most common, I fear, of all mis- 
takes, that men can be truly but knowingly only par- 
tially religious; that in some things they can truly 
yield to God, while in other things they refuse to obey 
Him. How common is this mistake ! If it is not, 
what shall we make of the state of the churches ? 
How are we to understand the great mass of profess- 
ors ? How are we to understand the great body of 
religious teachers, if they do not leave the impression, 
after all, on the churches, that they can be accepted of 
God while their habitual obedience is only very par- 
tial; while, in fact, they pick and choose among the 
commandments of God, professing to obey some, while 
they allow themselves in known disobedience of oth- 
ers. Now, if in this respect the church has not a false 
standard; if the mass of religious instruction is not 
making a false impression on the churches and on the 
world in this respect, I am mistaken. I am sorry to 
be obliged to entertain this opinion, and to express it; 
but what else can I think ? How else can the state of 
the churches be accounted for? How else is it that 



IS FATAL TO THE SOUL. 1 85 

ministers hope that the great mass of their churches 
are in a safe state ? How else is it that the great mass 
of professors of religion can have any hope of eternal 
life in them, if this is not the principle practically 
adopted by them, that they are justified while only 
rendering habitually but a very partial obedience to 
God; that they are really forgiven and justified while 
they only pick and choose among the commandments, 
obeying those which it costs them little to obey, and 
are not disagreeable and not unpopular; while they do 
not hesitate habitually to disobey where obedience 
would subject them to any inconvenience, require self- 
denial, or expose them to any persecution? 

Again, 14. From what has been said, it will be seen 
that partial reformation is no evidence of real conver- 
sion. Many are deceiving themselves on this point. 
Now we should never allow ourselves to believe that a 
person is converted if we perceive that his reformation 
extends to certain things only, while in certain other 
things he is not reformed; especially when, in the case 
of those things in which he is not reformed, he admits 
that he ought to perform those duties, or to relinquish 
those practices. If we find him still persisting in what 
he himself admits to be wrong, we are bound to assume 
and take it for granted that his conversion is not real. 

Again, 15. Inquirers can see what they must do. 

They must abandon all sin; they must give up all 
for Christ: they must turn with their whole heart and 
soul to Him; and must make up their minds to yield 
a full and hearty obedience as long as they live. They 
must settle this in their minds; and must cast them- 



1 86 SIN PERSISTED IN, FATAL TO THE SOUL. 

selves upon Christ for forgiveness for all the past, and 
grace to help in every time of need for the future. 
Only let it be settled in your mind fully that you will 
submit yourself to the whole will of God; and then 
you may expect, and are bound to expect, Him to for- 
give all the past, however great your sins may have 
been. 

You can see, Inquirer, why you have not already 
obtained peace. You have prayed for pardon; you 
have prayed for peace; you have endeavored to get 
peace, while, in fact, you have not given up all; you 
have kept something back. It is a perfectly common 
thing to find that the inquirer has not given up all. 
And if you do not find peace, it is because you have 
not given up all. 

Some idol is still retained; some sin persisted in — 
perhaps some neglect — perhaps some confession is not 
made that ought to have been made, or some act of 
restitution. You have not renounced the world, and 
do not, in fact, renounce it, and renounce everything, 
and flee to Christ. 



X. 



THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST THOSE 
WHO WITHSTAND HIS TRUTH. 



"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodli- 
ness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteous- 
ness." — Romans i. 18. 

THE following context shows that in these words 
the apostle has his eye especially on those who, 
not having a written revelation from God, might yet 
know Him in his works of nature. Paul's view is that 
God's invisible attributes become apparent to the hu- 
man mind, ever since the creation of our world — being 
revealed by the things He has made. In and by means 
of these works, we may learn his eternal power and his 
real divinity. Hence all men have some means of know- 
ing the great truths that pertain to God, our infinite Cre- 
ator. And hence God may, with the utmost propriety, 
hold men responsible for accepting this truth rever- 
ently, and rendering to their Creator the homage due. 
For withholding this, they are utterly without excuse. 

I. In discussing the subject presented in our text, 
let us inquire, first, What is the trice idea of unright- 
eousness? 

Beyond question, it cannot be less than the negation 
of righteousness, and may imply more or less of posi- 



1 88 THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST THOSE 

tive wickedness. Here the question will arise, What 
is righteousness? To which I answer, Tightness — 
moral Tightness, the original term being used in regard 
to material things, to denote what is straight; as, for 
example, a straight line. Unrighteousness, the op- 
posite of this, must mean what is morally crooked, dis- 
torted — not in harmony with the Tightness of God's 
law. To denote sin, the Scriptures employ some terms 
which properly signify a negation, or utter absence 
of what should be. Some theologians have maintained 
that the true idea of sin is simply negative, supposing 
sin to consist in not doing and not being what one 
ought to do and to be. This idea is strongly implied 
in our text. Sin is, indeed, a neglect to do known 
duty and a refusal to comply with known obligation. 
Inasmuch as love is required always and of all men, 
this must be a state of real disobedience. Suffice it, 
then, to say, that unrighteousness is an omission — a 
known omission — a refusal to be what we should, and 
to do what we should. Of course it is only and wholly 
voluntary. The mind's refusal to obey God is a matter 
of its own free choice. 

//. What is implied in "holding the truth in nn- 
rigJiteousness " ? 

The meaning of the original term "hold" is to hold 
back, to restrain. The idea here is that the man re- 
strains the legitimate influence of the truth, and will 
not let it have its proper sway over his will. 

The human mind is so constituted that truth is its 
natural stimulus. This stimulus of truth would, if not 
restrained and held back, lead the mind naturally to 



WHO WITHSTAND HIS TRUTH. 1 89 

obey God. The man holds back the truth through his 
own unrighteousness, when, for selfish reasons, he over- 
rules and restrains its natural influence, and will not 
suffer it to take possession and hold sway over his 
mind. 

III. What is intended by "the wrath of God re- 
vealed from heaven"? and Why is it thus revealed 
agaiiist all such unrighteousness ? The obvious sense 
is that God, manifesting Himself from heaven, has re- 
vealed his high and just displeasure against all restrain- 
ing of the truth and withstanding of its influence. 

Before I proceed to show why this is, I must be 
permitted to come very near to some of you whom I 
see before me this day, and talk to you in great frank- 
ness and faithfulness. I do not charge on you that 
you have been outwardly immoral, but you have re- 
strained the truth, you have withstood its influence. 
You are therefore the very persons against whom the 
wrath of God is said to be revealed. This is true of 
every one of you who has not given himself up to the 
influence of truth. You have restrained that natural 
influence; therefore, against you God has revealed his 
wrath. 

This is a terrible thing. The wrath of a king is ter- 
rible; how much more so is the wrath of God ! Ah, 
who can stand before Him when once He shall arise in 
his wrath to avenge his truth and his own glorious 
name! 

Why does God's wrath wax hot against this sin ? 
Comprehensively, the reason is this, Withstanding the 
truth is resisting God's revealed claims of love and obe- 



190 THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST THOSE 

dience, and is therefore the whole of sin. All is com- 
prised in it. This is the very essence — the true idea 
of sin; it is deliberate, intelligent, and intentional rebel- 
lion against God. There could be no obligation until 
your conscience affirms it to yourself. The conscience 
cannot thus affirm obligation until there is some knowl- 
edge of God revealed to the mind; but when this 
knowledge is revealed, then conscience must and will 
affirm obligation. Subsequently to this point, the more 
conscience is developed, the more it unfolds, and the 
more strongly it affirms your obligation to obey God. 
Suppose a person were created asleep. Until he 
awakes, there could be in his mind no knowledge of 
God — not one idea of God, and consequently no sense 
of obligation to obey Him. But as soon as the moral 
functions of the reason and the conscience create a sense 
of obligation, then the mind is brought to a decision. 
It must then either choose to obey or to disobey God. 
It must elect either to take God's law as its rule of duty 
or to reject it. 

The alternative of rejecting God makes it necessary 
to hold back the truth and withstand its claims. We 
might almost say that these processes are substantially 
identical — resisting the natural influence of God's truth 
on the mind, and withstanding the known claims of 
God. When you know the truth concerning God, the 
great question being whether or not you will obey it, if 
your heart says No ! you do of course resist the claims 
of truth: — you hold it back through your own unright- 
eousness. 

The very apprehending of moral truth concerning 



WHO WITHSTAND HIS TRUTH. 191 

God renders it impossible to be indifferent. Once see- 
ing God's claims you cannot avoid acting upon them 
one way or the other. Hence to stop there after your 
duty is made known, and hold your minds aloof from 
obedience, is being just as wicked as you can be. You 
disown your whole obligation towards God, and practi- 
cally say unto Him, "Depart from me, for I desire not 
the knowledge of thy ways." Is not this as wicked as 
you can be, with the light you may have at the time ? 
What more wicked thing could you do ? 

Let us look at this matter a little farther. Holding 
back the truth through unrighteousness implies the to- 
tal rejection of the moral law as a rule of duty. This 
must be the case, because, when light concerning the 
meaning of this law comes before the man, he repels it 
and resists its claims, thus virtually saying, That law is 
no rule of duty to me. Thus resisting the influence of 
truth, he practically denies all obligations to God. 
Truth coming before his mind, he perceives his obliga- 
tion, but he withholds his mind from its sway. 

You may probably have observed that some persons 
seem to have no sense of any other obligation save that 
created by human law. Legal obligation can reach 
them, but not moral. They will not pay an honest 
debt unless it is in such a shape that the strong hand of 
the law can take hold of them. Others have no sensi- 
bility to any claims save those that minister to their 
business reputation. Take away their fear of losing 
this; remove all the inducements to do right, save those 
that pertain to moral obligation, and see if they will 
ever do anything. 



192 THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST THOSE 

Now such men practically reject and deny God's 
rights altogether, and, equally so, their own obligations 
to God. Their conduct, put into words, would read, I 
have some respect for human law and some fear of hu- 
man penalty; but, for God's law or penalty either, I 
care nothing ! 

It is easy to see that to hold back the truth thus is 
the perfection of wickedness. For suppose a man re- 
frains from sinning, only because of his obligations to 
human laws. Then he shows that he fears human pen- 
alties only, and has no fear of God before his eyes. 

Again, this holding the truth in unrighteousness set- 
tles all questions as to the moral character. You may 
know the man with unerring certainty. His position 
is taken; his course is fixed; as to moral obligation, he 
cares nothing. The fact perceived, moral obligation 
does not decide his course at all. He becomes totally 
dishonest. This settles the question of his character. 
Until he reveres God's authority, there is not a parti- 
cle of moral goodness in him. He does not act with 
even common honesty. Of course his moral character 
towards God is formed and is easily known. If he had 
any moral honesty, the perceived fact of his own moral 
obligation would influence his mind. But we see it 
does not at all; he shuts down the gate on all the 
claims of truth, and will not allow them to sway his 
will. Hence it must be that his heart is fully com- 
mitted to wickedness. 

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against 
all who thus hold back the truth, because this attitude 
of the will shows that you are reckless of your obliga- 



WHO WITHSTAND HIS TRUTH. 1 93 

tions towards God. It shows that, with you, a moral 
claim on your heart and conscience goes for nothing. 
If you restrain the truth from influencing your mind, 
this very fact proves that you do not mean to serve God. 
Some of you know that you are not doing what you see 
to be your duty. You are conscious that the presence 
of known duty does not move you. You have not 
done one act of obedience to God's claims because they 
are God's. 

Again, not only does this settle the question of moral 
character — which is of itself a good reason for God's 
wrath; — but it also settles the question of moral rela- 
tions. Because it shows that your moral character is 
altogether corrupt and wrong, it also shows that, in re- 
gard to moral relations, you are really God's enemy. 
From that moment when you resist the claims of moral 
truth, God must regard you as his enemy, and not by 
any means as his obedient subject. Not in any figura- 
tive sense, but in its most literal sense, you are his en- 
emy, and therefore He must be highly displeased with 
you. If He were not, his own conscience would con- 
demn Him. You must know that it must be his duty 
to reveal to you this displeasure. Since He must feel 
it, He ought to be open and honest with you. You 
could not, in reason, wish Him to be otherwise. All 
of you who know moral truth, yet obey it not ; who 
admit obligation which yet you refuse to obey, you are 
the men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Let 
this be settled in every one of your minds, that if you 
restrain the influence of any truth known concerning 

9 



194 THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST THOSE 

God and your duty, then against you is his wrath re- 
vealed from heaven. 

IV. We must next inquire, Wherein and how is 
this w rat J i revealed? 

Perhaps some of you are already making this inquiry. 
Moralists are wont to make it, and to say, "We do not 
see any wrath coming. If we are as good as professors 
of religion, why shall we not be saved as well as they? " 

Wherein then is God's wrath revealed against this 
great wickedness? 

i. Your conscience affirms that God must be dis- 
pleased with you. It certifies to you beforehand that 
you are guilty, and that God cannot accept you. 

2. The remorse which will sometimes visit such sin- 
ners yet more confirms God's displeasure. True, the 
feeling of remorse belongs to the sensibility; but none 
the less does it give admonitory warning. Its voice 
must be accounted as the voice of God in the human 
soul. He who made that sensibility so that it will 
sometimes recoil under a sense of guilt, and turn back 
to consume the life and joy of the soul, did not make 
it a lie. It is strange that any should suppose this re- 
morse to be itself the punishment threatened of God 
against sin, and the whole of it. Far from it. This is 
not that punishment which God has threatened; it is 
only a premonition of it. 

The very fears men feel are often to be taken as an 
indication that the thing they dread is a reality. Why 
is it that men in their sins are so often greatly afraid to 
die ? It is no other than a trumpet-tone of the voice 
of God, sounding up from the depths of their very na- 



WHO WITHSTAND HIS TRUTH. 1 95 

ture. How can they overlook the fact that these grim 
forebodings of coming doom are indeed a revelation of 
wrath, made in the very nature God has given them ! 

Another revelation of God's wrath He makes in his 
juridical abandonment of sinners. God manifests his 
despair of doing anything more for their salvation when 
He manifestly withdraws his Spirit and gives them over 
to hopeless abandonment. Withdrawing his Spirit, He 
leaves them in great moral blindness. They may have 
been able to see and to discriminate spiritual things some- 
what before, but, after God forsakes them, they seem 
almost utterly void of this power. Everything is dark; 
all is confused. The light of the Holy Spirit being 
withdrawn, it were practically vain for the sinner him- 
self, or for his sympathizing friends, to expect his sal- 
vation. This mental darkness over all spiritual things 
is God's curse on his rejection of truth, and significantly 
forebodes his speedy doom. 

Analogous to this is the indication given in a moral 
paralysis of the conscience. Strangely it seems to have 
lost its sensibility; its ready tact in moral discrimination 
is gone; its perceptions seem unaccountably obtuse, and 
the tone of its voice waxes feeble and almost inaudible. 
Practically, one might almost as well have no conscience 
at all. 

What does this paralysis of conscience indicate ? 
Plainly, that God has abandoned that soul. The con- 
science, so long overborne by a perverse will, gives 
way, and God ceases longer to sustain its vitality. 

It is painful to see how persons in this condition 
strain their endeavors, but such debility comes down 



196 THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST THOSE 

upon them — they become so indifferent; diverting in- 
fluences are so potent — they drop their endeavors, pow- 
erless. Once their conscience had some activity; truth 
fell on their mind with appreciable force, and they were 
aware of resisting it; but, by-and-by, there ensued a 
state of moral feeling in which the mind is no longer 
conscious of refusing; — indeed, it seems scarcely con- 
scious of anything whatever. He has restrained the in- 
fluence of truth until conscience has mainly suspended 
its functions. Like the drunkard, who has lost all per- 
ception of the moral wrong of intemperance, and who 
has brought this insensibility on himself by incessant 
violations of his better judgment, so the sinner has re- 
fused to hear the truth, until the truth now refuses to 
move him. What is the meaning of this strange phe- 
nomenon ? It is one of the ways in which God reveals 
his indignation at man's great wickedness. 

An ungodly student, put on the intellectual race- 
course alongside of his class-mates, soon becomes am- 
bitious and jealous. At first, he will probably have 
some sense of this sin; but he soon loses this sense, 
and passes on as if unconscious of any sin. What is 
this but a revelation of God's displeasure ? 

Again, this wrath against those who hold back 
the truth in unrighteousness is abundantly revealed in 
God's word. Think of Avhat Christ said to the hypo- 
critical scribes and Pharisees, "Fill ye up, then, the 
measure of your fathers." What did He mean by that? 
Their fathers had filled their cup of sin till God could 
bear with them no longer, and then He filled up his cup 



'who withstand his truth, 197 

of wrath and poured it forth on the nation, and "there 
was no remedy.'" 1 So Christ intimates it shall be with 
the scribes and Pharisees. And what is this but to re- 
veal his wrath against them for holding back the truth 
through unrighteousness? 

Again, He lets such sinners die in their sins. Ob- 
serve how, step by step, God gave them one revelation 
after another of his wrath against their sin; — remorse, 
moral blindness, decay of moral sensibility, and the 
plain assertions of his word. All these failing, He 
gives them up to some strong delusion, that they may 
believe a lie. God Himself says, "For this cause God 
shall send them strong delusion, that they should be- 
lieve a lie, that they all might be damned who believed 
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 
It is painfully instructive to study the workings of 
modern delusions, especially spiritualism; to notice 
how it has come in following the track of those great 
revivals that blessed our country a few years since. Do 
not I know scores of persons who passed through those 
revivals unblessed, and now they are mad with this 
delusion? They saw the glory of God in those scenes 
of revival power; but they turned away, and now they 
are mad on their idols, and crazy under their delusions. 
God has given them up to die in their sins, and it will 
be an awful death ! Draw near them gently, and ask 
a few kind questions; you will soon see that they make 
no just moral discriminations. All is dark which needs 
to be light, ere they can find the gate of life. 



198 THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST THOSE 

REMARKS. 

I. You may notice the exact difference between 
saints and sinners, including among sinners all professors 
of religion who are not in an obedient state of mind. 
The exact difference is this, saints have adopted God's 
will as their law of activity, the rule that shall govern 
all their life and all their heart. You reveal to them 
God's will; this settles all further controversy. The 
very opposite of this is true of the sinner. With him, 
the fact of God's supposed will has no such influence 
at all; usually no influence of any sort, unless it be to 
excite his opposition. Again, the Christian, instead of 
restraining the influence of truth, acts up to his con- 
victions. If the question of oicghtness is settled, all is 
settled. Suppose I go to Deacon A. or Deacon B. and 
I say, "I want you to do a certain thing; I think you 
must give so much of your money to this object." He 
replies, " I don't know about that, my money costs me 
great labor and pains." But I resume, and say, "Let 
us look calmly at, this question;" and then I proceed 
to show him that the thing I ask of him is, beyond a 
doubt, his duty to God and to man. He interposes at 
once, " You need not say another word; that is enough. 
If it is my duty to Christ and to his people, I ask no 
more." But the sinner is not moved so. He knows 
his duty beforehand, but he has long been regardless 
of its claims on him. You must appeal to his selfish 
interests, if you would reach his heart. With the 
Christian, you need not appeal to his hopes or his 
fears. You only need show his duty to God. The 



WHO WITHSTAND HIS TRUTH. 1 99 

sinner you can hope to move only by appeals to his 
interests. The reason of this is that his adopted course 
of life is to serve his own interests, nothing higher. 

2. With sinners the question of religion is one of loss 
and gain. But with Christians, it is only a question of 
right and duty towards God. This makes truth to him 
all important, and duty imperative. But the sinner 
only asks, What shall I gain ? or What shall I lose ? 
It is wholly a question of danger. Indeed, so true is 
this, that ministers often assume that the only availing 
motive with a sinner, must be an appeal to his hopes 
and fears. They have mostly dropped out the consid- 
eration of right as between the sinner and God. They 
seem to have forgotten that so far forth as they stop 
short of the idea of right, and appeal only to the sin- 
ner's selfishness, their influence tends to make spurious 
converts. For if men enter upon the Christian life only 
for gain in the line of their hopes and fears, you must 
keep up the influence of these considerations, and must 
expect to work upon these only ; that is, you must ex- 
pect to have selfish Christians and a selfish church. If 
you say to them, " This is duty," they will reply, 
" What have we ever cared for duty ? We were never 
converted to the doctrine of doing our duty. We 
became Christians at all, only for the sake of promoting 
our own interests, and we have nothing to do in the 
Christian life on any other motive." 

Now observe, they may modify this language a little 
if it seem too repugnant to the general convictions of 
decent people; but none the less is this their real 
meaning. They modify its language only on the same 



200 THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST THOSE 

general principle of making every thing subservient to 
self. 

3. Again, we see how great a mistake is made by 
those selfish Christians who say, "Am I not honest to- 
wards my fellow-men ? And is not this a proof of 
piety?" 

What do you mean by " honest"? Are you really 
honest towards God? Do you regard God's rights as 
much as you wish Him to regard yours? But perhaps 
you ask, as many do, What is my crime? I answer, Is 
it not enough for you to do nothing, really nothing, 
towards obedience to God? Is it not something se- 
rious that you refuse to do God's will and hold back 
the claims of his truth ? What's the use of talking 
about your morality, while you disregard the greatest 
of all moral claims and obligations— those that bind 
you to love and obey God? What can it avail you to 
say perpetually, Am I not moral and decent towards 
men ? 

Why is God not satisfied with this? 

4. Ye who think you are almost as good as Chris- 
tians; — in fact, it is much nearer the truth to say that 
you are almost as bad as devils! Indeed you are fully 
as bad, save that you do not know as much, and there- 
fore cannot be so wicked. You say, "We are kind to 
each other." So are devils. Their common purpose 
to war against God compels them to act in concert. 
They went in concert into the man possessed with a 
legion of devils, as we learn in the gospel history. 
Very likely they are as kind toward each other, in their 
league against God and goodness, as you are towards 



WHO WITHSTAND HIS TRUTH. 201 

your neighbors. So that selfish men have small ground 
to compliment themselves on being kind and good to 
each other, while they withstand God, since, in both 
these respects, they are only like devils in hell. 

5. And now, my impenitent hearers — what do you 
say? Putting your conduct towards God into plain lan- 
guage, it would run thus: "Thou, Lord, callest on me 
to repent; I shall refuse. Thou dost strive to enforce 
my obligation to repent by various truths; I hold back 
those truths from their legitimate influence on my mind. 
Thou dost insist on my submission to thy authority; 
I shall do no such thing." 

This, you will see, is only translating your current 
life and bearing towards God, into plain words. If you 
were really to lift your face toward heaven and utter 
these words, it would be blasphemy. What do you 
think of it now? Do you not admit, and often assert, 
that actions speak louder than words? Do they not 
also speak more truthfully? 

6. To those of you who are business men, let me 
make this appeal. What would you think of men who 
should treat you as you treat God? You take your 
account to your customer and you say to him, This ac- 
count, sir, has been lying a long time past due; will 
you be so good as to settle it? You cannot deny that 
it is a fair account of value received, and I understand 
you have abundant means to pay it. He very coldly 
refuses. You suggest the propriety of his giving some 
reasons for this refusal; and he tells you it is a fine 
time to get large interest on his money, and he there- 
fore finds it more profitable to loan it out than to pay 

9* 



202 . THE WRATH OF GOD. 

his debts. That is all. He is only selfish; all there is 
of it is simply this, that he cares for his own interests 
supremely, and cares little or nothing for yours when 
the two classes of interests — his and yours — come into 
competition. 

When you shall treat God as well as you want your 
creditors to treat you, then you may hold up your head 
as, so far, an honest man; but, so long as you do the 
very thing towards God which you condemn as infi- 
nitely mean from your fellow-men towards yourself, 
you have little ground for self-complacent pride. 

All this would be true and forcible, even if God were 
no greater, no better, and had no higher and no more 
sacred rights than your own. How much more, then, 
are they weighty beyond expression, since God is so 
much greater, better, and holier than mortals ! 



XL 



THE DOOM OF THOSE WHO NEGLECT THE 
GREAT SALVATION. 



" How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" — Hebrews 
ii. 3. 

ESCAPE what? What can Universalists say to 
such a question as this? They whose first doc- 
trine proclaims that there can be no danger — what will 
they say to this solemn question and its startling as- 
sumption of peril from which there shall be no es- 
cape ? How shall we escape ? says the inspired au- 
thor; as if he would imply most strongly that there can 
be no escape to those who neglect this great salvation. 

Salvation; — the very term imports safety or deliver- 
ance from great impending evil. If there be no such 
evil, there is no meaning to this term — no real salva- 
tion. 

The writer is speaking of the salvation published in 
the gospel; and the idea that immediately suggested 
its greatness is the greatness of its author and revealer. 
It is because Jesus Christ, by whom this gospel came, 
is so great, compared with angels, that the writer con- 
ceives of this salvation as pre-eminently great and glo- 
rious. 

This second chapter is closely connected with the 



204 THE DOOM OF THOSE WHO 

first. The train of thought reverts to the fact that 
God had anciently spoken to their fathers by the proph- 
ets; but in these last days, by his Son — the very bright- 
ness of his own glory — the Upholder of all things, 
shown all through the Bible to be higher than angels, 
through whose ministrations, also, the divine word had 
sometimes come to mortals. Now, then, since the 
word, so revealed by angels, carried with it the sternest 
authority; and every sort of transgression and disobe- 
dience received a just recompense of reward, how shall 
men escape who neglect a salvation so great that even 
God's glorious Son is sent from heaven to earth to re- 
veal it! He, the Exalted Son, came down to create 
and reveal this salvation; He wrought it out in death, 
confirming his divine mission while he lived, by mira- 
cles ; must it not then be a matter of supreme impor- 
tance ? 

Yet the Bible has not left us to infer its greatness 
from the glory of its Author alone ; it presents to us 
the greatness of this salvation in many other points of 
view. 

It is great in its very nature. It is salvation from 
deatli in sin. 

Let men talk and gainsay as they will, this one great 
fact is given us by human consciousness, that men arc 
dead in sin. Every man knows this. We all know 
that, apart from God's quickening Spirit, we have no 
heart to love God. Each sinner knows that, whatever 
may be his powers as a moral agent, yet, left to him- 
self, there is in him a moral weakness that effectually 
shuts him off from salvation, save as God interposes 



NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION. 205 

with efficient help. Hence the salvation that meets 
him in this weakness, and turns him effectually to love 
and to please God, must be intrinsically great. 

Again, it is great because it delivers from endless 
sinning and suffering. 

Just think of that : — endless suffering. How long 
could you bear even the slightest degree of pain, sup- 
posing it to continue without intermission? How long 
ere you would find it unendurable? Experiments in 
this matter ofter surprise us; such, for example, as the 
incessant fall of single drops of water upon the head, 
— a kind of torture sometimes inflicted on slaves. The 
first drops are scarcely noticed ; but, ere long, the pain 
becomes excruciating, and ultimately unendurable. 

Just think of any kind of suffering which goes on 
ever increasing! Suppose it to increase constantly 
for one year; would you not think this to be awful? 
Suppose it to increase without remission for one hun- 
dred years; can you estimate the fearful amount? 
What, then, must it be if it goes on increasing forever! 

It matters not how rapid or how slow this increase; 
the amount, if its duration be eternal, must be ineffably 
appalling! Nor does it matter much how great or how 
little the degree at the outset ; suppose it ever so small, 
yet eternal growth must make it beyond measure appall- 
ing! You may suppose the amount of woe endured to 
be represented by one drop for the first thousand years ; 
yet let it increase for the next thousand, and yet more for 
the next, and, ere eternity shall have rolled away, the 
amount will be an ocean! It would take a great while 
to fill up such an ocean as the Atlantic by giving it 



206 THE DOOM OF THOSE WHO 

one drop in each thousand years — yet time would fill 
it; it would take yet longer to fill the Pacific at the 
same rate — but time would suffice to fill it ; more time 
would fill up the Indian Ocean ; more yet would cover 
this globe; more would fill all the vast space between 
us and fixed stars; but even this lapse of time would 
not exhaust eternity. It would not even begin to 
measure eternal duration. How fearful, then, must be 
that woe which knows no limit save eternity! 

Some deny the sufferings of the wicked to be penal 
inflictions, and insist that they are only the natural 
consequence of sinning. I shall not stop noAV to enter 
upon any argument on this point; but I ask, What 
difference does that make as to the amount or endur- 
ableness of eternal woe? Penal or not penal, the Bible 
represents it as eternal, and its very nature shows that 
it must be forever increasing. How, then, can it be es- 
sentially lessened by the question, whether it be or be 
not penal infliction? Whether God has so constituted 
all moral agents that their sin, allowed to work out its 
legitimate results, will entail misery enough to answer 
all those fearful descriptions given us in the Bible, or 
whether, in addition to all that misery, God inflicts yet 
more, penally, and this enlarged amount makes up the 
eternal doom denounced on the finally wicked, it surely 
can be of small consequence to decide, — so far forth as 
amount of suffering is concerned. 

Some deny that the cause of this suffering is mate- 
rial fire. They may even scoff at this, and think that, 
by so doing, they have extinguished the flames of hell, 
and have thus annihilated all future punishment. How 



NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION. 207 

vain ! Can a sinner's scoff frustrate the Almighty ? Did 
the Almighty God ever lack means to execute his 
word? What matters it, whether the immediate agent 
in the sinner's sufferings be fire or something else of 
which fire is the fittest emblem ? Can your scoffs make 
it any the less fearful ? 

This fearful woe is the fruit of sinning; and is there- 
fore inevitable, save as you desist from sinning while 
yet mercy may be found. Once in hell, you will know 
that, while you continue to sin, you must continue to 
suffer. 

The language used in the Bible to describe the sin- 
ner's future woe is very terrible. We may call it figur- 
ative. I suppose those terms to be figures of speech, 
but I cannot tell. I have never been there. If any 
one here has been, let him speak. 

It certainly may be literal fire. No one of us can 
certainly know that it is not. It must be something 
equal to fire ; for we cannot suppose that God would 
deceive us. Whoever else may speak extravagantly, 
God never does! He never puts forth great swelling 
words of vanity — sounding much, but meaning little. 
Take it, then, which way you please, it is an awful 
revelation — to die in your sins; to go away into a fur- 
nace of fire; to be among those the smoke of whose 
torment ascendeth up forever and ever! How strik- 
ingly is this doom symbolized in the smoke of those 
doomed cities of the plain, "set forth as an example, 
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" ! Their "smoke 
ascended as the smoke of a great furnace.' Abraham 
lifted up his eyes and saw it ! What sort of a night 



2o8 THE DOOM OF THOSE WHO 

did he spend after that appalling scene? He had risen 
early, had made his way through the morning dew to 
the hill-top overlooking Sodom, and then he saw the 
smoke of those doomed cities ascending to heaven. 
So may the Christian parent perhaps wend his way to 
the hill-tops of the heavenly city, and look over into the 
great pit, where the ungodly weep and wail forever- 
more! Shall it be that any of your unsaved children 
will be deep in that pit of woe ! 

Observe again, this salvation is not merely negative 
— a salvation from sin and from suffering; it has also a 
positive side. On this positive side, it includes perfect 
holiness and endless blessedness. It is not only deliv- 
erance from never-ending and ever-accumulating woe; 
it is also endless bliss — exceeding, in both kind and 
degree, all we can conceive in . this life. This is not 
the world to realize the full bliss of unalloyed purity. 
There will be sin around us; there will yet be some 
sad traces of it within us. Yet who of us does not 
sometimes catch a distinct view of that purity and 
blessedness which we know reigns in heaven ? Most 
blessed views these are, yet no doubt dim and weak, 
compared with the great reality. When that bliss shall 
be perfect; when nothing more is left us to desire, but 
every desire of our soul is filled to its utmost capacity, 
and we shall have the full assurance that this blessed- 
ness must increase with the expansion of our powers 
and with our advance in knowledge as we gaze with 
ever-growing interest into the works of the great God, 
this will be heaven ! All this is only one side — the 



NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION. 20O, 

positive side of that blessedness which comes with this 
great salvation. 

Now set yourselves to balance these two things, one 
against the other; an ever-growing misery and an ever- 
growing blessedness. Find some measuring line by 
which you can compare them. 

You may recall the figure I have more than once 
mentioned here. An old writer says. Suppose a little 
bird is set to remove this globe by taking from it one 
grain of sand at a time, and to come only once in a 
thousand years. She takes her first grain, and away 
she flies on her long and weary course, and long, long, 
are the days ere she returns again. It will doubtless 
seem to many as if she never would return; but when 
a thousand years have rolled away, she comes panting 
back for one more grain of sand — and this globe is 
again lessened by just one grain of its almost countless 
sands. So the work goes on. So eternity wears away 
— only it does not exhaust itself a particle. That little 
bird will one day have finished her task, and the last 
sand will have been taken away; but even then eternity 
will have only be^un: its sands are never to be ex- 
hausted. One would suppose that the angels would 
become so old, so hoary, with the weight of centuries, 
and every being so old, they would be weary of life; 
but this supposing only shows that we are judging of 
the effects of time in that eternal state by its observed 
effect in this transient world. But we fail to consider 
that God made this world for a transient life — that for 
one that shall never pass away. 

Taking up again our figure of the little bird remov- 



210 THE DOOM OF THOSE WHO 

ing the sands of our globe, we may extend it, and sup- 
pose that, after she had finished this world, she takes 
up successively the other planets of our system — Mer- 
cury, and Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Herschel, 
each and all on the same law — one grain each thous- 
and years, and when these are all exhausted, then the 
sun, and then each of the fixed stars; until the hun- 
dreds of thousands of those stupendous orbs are all 
removed and gone. But even then eternity is not ex- 
hausted. We have not yet even an approximation 
towards its end. End ? There is no end ! That poor 
old bird makes progress. Though exceedingly slow, she 
will one day have done her appointed task. But she 
will not even then have come any nearer to the end of 
eternity ! Eternity ! Who can compute it ? No finite 
mind; and yet this idea is not fiction, but sober fact. 
There is no possible room for mistake — no ground for 
doubt. 

Moreover, no truth can be more entirely and in- 
tensely practical than this. Every one of us here — 
every one of all our families, every child — all these stu- 
dents — are included. It concerns us all. Before us, 
each and all, lies this eternal state of our being. We 
are all to live in this eternal state. There awaits us 
there either woe or bliss, without measure and beyond 
all our powers of computation. If woe, it will be 
greater than all finite minds can conceive. Suppose 
all the minds ever created were to devote their powers 
to compute this suffering — to find some adequate meas- 
ure that shall duly represent it ; — alas, they could not 
even begin ! Neither could they any better find meas- 



NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION. 211 

ures to contain the bliss t on the other hand, of those 
who c are truly the children of God. All the most ex- 
pressive language of our race would say, It is not in 
me to measure infinite bliss or infinite woe; all the fig- 
ures within the grasp of all created imaginations would 
fade away before the stupendous undertaking ! Yet 
this infinite bliss and endless woe are the plain teach- 
ing of the Bible, and are in harmony with the decisive 
affirmations of the human reason. We know that, if 
we continue in sin, the misery must come upon us; — if 
we live and die in holiness, the bliss will come. 

And is this the theme, and are these the great facts, 
which these young men may go abroad to the ends of 
the world and proclaim to every creature, and which 
these young women also may speak of everywhere in 
the society where they move ? Truly they have a glo- 
rious and sublime message to bear ! 

Again, suppose the joy resulting from this salvation 
to be a mild form of peace and quiet of soul. We may 
suppose this, although we cannot forget that the Bible 
represents it as being a "joy unspeakable and full of 
glory;" but suppose it were only a mild, quiet joy. 
Even then, an eternal accumulation of it — a prolonga- 
tion of it during eternal ages, considering, also, that 
naturally it must forever increase — will amount to an 
infinite joy. Indeed, it matters little how small the 
unit with which you start, yet let there be given an 
eternal duration, coupled with ceaseless growth and 
increase, and how vast the amount ! 

According to the Bible, this blessedness of the holy 
is the full fruition of God's love. Hence the bliss 



212 THE doom OF THOSE \\ Iio 

which it involves can be nothing short of infinite. It 
can have no limit. A really comprehensive view of 
what it will be would be overpowering. Who of you 
could bear the view of your future selves ? Could you 
who are saints ? Suppose you could see yourselves as 
you will exist ten thousand years hence. Suppose you 
were for a moment endowed with the power to pene- 
trate the future and' see yourself as you will be before 
the throne of God. If you were not apprised that it is 
yourself, you might fall down and worship ! 

Or suppose the wicked could see their future selves 

as they will be ten thousand years hence; could see 

* how full of torment they will be, and what unutterable 

woes their souls shall bear there, — could they endure 

the sight ? 

And here does some one say, How very extravagant 
you are ! Extravagant ? Nothing can be farther from 
the truth than to hold these views to be extravagant. 
For, grant only immortality, and ail that I have said 
must follow of necessity. Let it be admitted that the 
soul exists forever, and not a word that I have said is 
too much. Indeed, when you carry out that great fact 
to its legitimate results under the moral government of 
God, all these descriptions seem exceedingly flat — they 
fall so very far short of the truth. 

In the next place, let it be considered that neglect 
of this great salvation is fatal. So our text most em- 
phatically implies, so the Bible often elsewhere most 
unqualifiedly affirms. No sinner, therefore, need go 
about to weary himself to commit iniquity, as if he 



NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION. 21 3 

would fain make sure his doom; for mere neglect is 
fatal. What more should he want ? 

But let us inquire, What is to be regarded as fatal 
neglect ? For all have, at some time, been guilty of 
some neglect. 

We shall reach the true answer to our question by 
asking another, viz. What is effectual attention ? 

Plainly that, and only that, which ensures gospel re- 
pentance and faith in Christ; only that w T hich ensures 
personal holiness and, thus, final salvation. That is, 
therefore, effectual attention which arouses the soul 
thoroughly to take hold of Jesus Christ as the offered 
Saviour. To fall short of this is fatal neglect. You 
may have many good things about you — may make 
many good resolves and hopeful efforts; yet, failing in 
this main thing, you fail utterly. 

REMARKS. 

1 . You need only be a little less than fully in earn- 
est, and you will certainly fall short of salvation. You 
may have a good deal of feeling and a hopeful earnest- 
ness ; but if you are only less than fully in earnest, you 
will surely fail. The work will not be done. You are 
guilty of fatal neglect, for you have never taken the 
decisive step. Who of you is he that is a little less 
than fully in earnest ? You are the one who will weary 
yourself for na'ught and in vain. You must certainly 
fall short of salvation. 

2. It must be great folly to do anything short of 
effectual effort. Many are just enough in earnest to 
deceive themselves. They pay just enough attention 



2 14 THE DOOM OF THOSE WHO 

to this subject to get hold of it wrong, and do only 
just enough to fall short of salvation, and go down to 
death with a lie in their right hand. If they were to 
stay away from all worship, it would shock them. 
Now, they go to the assemblies of God's people and 
do many things hopeful; but, after all, they fall short 
of entering in at the door into Christ's fold. What 
folly is this ! Why should any of you do this foolish 
thing ! This doing only just enough, to deceive your- 
self and others, is the very course to please Satan. 
Nothing else could so completely serve his ends. He 
knows very well that where the gospel is generally 
understood, he must not preach infidelity openly, nor 
Universalism, nor atheism. Neither would do. But 
if he can just keep you along, doing a little less than 
enough, he is sure of his man. He wants to see you 
holding fast to a false hope. Then he knows you are 
the greatest possible stumbling-block, and are doing 
the utmost you can to ruin the souls of men. 

3. This salvation is life's great work. If not made 
such, it had best be left alone. To put it in any other 
relation is worse than nothing. If you make it second 
to anything else, your course will surely be ineffectual 
— a lie, a delusion, a damnation ! 

Are you giving your attention effectually to this great 
subject? Who of you are? Have you this testimony* 
in your own conscience, that you seek first the king- 
dom of God and his righteousness? And have you 
become acquainted with Christ? Do you know Him 
as your Life and your Hope? Have you the joy and 
peace of believing ? Can you give to yourself and to 



NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION. 21 5 

others a really satisfactory reason for the hope that is 
in you ? 

This is life's great work — the great work of earth ; 
and now, in whom of you is it effectually begun? You 
cannot do it at all without a thorough and right begin- 
ning. I am jealous of some of you that you have not 
begun right — that you have mistaken conviction for 
conversion. Like some of Bunyan's characters, I fear 
you have clambered over the wall into the palace, and 
did not come in by the gate. Do you ask me why I 
fear this of you ? I will answer only by asking a ques- 
tion back. Don't you think I have reason to fear it? 
Have you the consciousness of being pure in heart, and 
of growing purer? Do you plan everything with refer- 
ence to this great work of salvation? What are the 
ways of life that you have marked out for yourself? 
and on what principle have you shaped them? On 
what subjects are you most sensitive? What most 
thoroughly awakens your sensibility? If there is a 
prayer-meeting to pray for the salvation of sinners, are 
you there ? Is your heart there ? 

4. It is infinite folly to make the matter of personal 
salvation only a secondary matter ; for to do so is only 
to neglect it after all. Unless it has your whole heart, 
you virtually neglect it, for nothing less than your 
whole heart is the devotion due. To give it less than 
your whole heart is truly to insult God, and to insult 
the subject of salvation. 

What shall we think of those who seem never to 
make any progress at all? Is it not very plain that 
they give much less than their whole hearts to this 



2f6 THE GREAT SALVATION. 

matter? It is most certain that if they gave their whole 
hearts intelligently to it, they would make progress — 
would speedily find their way to Christ. To make no 
progress is therefore a decisive indication of having no 
real heart in this pursuit. How can such escape, see- 
ing they neglect so great salvation ? 



XII. 



ALL THINGS FOR GOOD TO THOSE THAT 

LOVE GOD. 



"And we know that all things work together for good to them that 
love God." — Romans viii. 28. 

YOU will observe that the apostle speaks with all 
confidence. He does not say, We expect, or we 
believe, or we conjecture, that all will be well for God's 
friends ; but he says, We know. There is no doubt 
about it. 

Let us then, 
I. Inquire, What does his language mean? 
II. Show how the result of good to all 

THAT LOVE GOD IS SECURED; 

III. Notice some particulars as illustrations 

OF THE GENERAL TRUTH; 

IV. Show how we know it to be true. 
I. What is tlie apostle" s meani?ig ? 

Here the great question is, Shall his language be in- 
terpreted as strictly universal? 

In terms, he announces a universal proposition. All 
tilings, he declares, work together for good to those 
that love God. But does he mean to affirm a proposi- 
tion strictly universal? 

Not all universal language should be taken in a 
10 



2l8 ALL THINGS FOR GOOD 

strictly universal sense. In the Scriptures we not un- 
frequently find it necessary to modify universal lan- 
guage. There may be things in the text or context 
which forbid the universal sense, or there may be dec- 
larations in other parts of the Bible which preclude it ; 
or the nature of the case may render the universal sense 
either violently improbable, or perhaps absurd, and 
hence may demand some modification. It should be 
remembered that the language of the Bible is the lan- 
guage of common life, and everybody knows that in 
the language of common life we often affirm in the 
form of universal proposition when we really mean 
something much short of this. For example, it is com- 
mon to say of a well-known fact, "Everybody says so ;" 
but our "everybody" is by no means intended to em- 
brace all mankind. 

But the language of our text I do understand to be 
used in the strictly universal sense, meaning that ab- 
solutely all things, present and future, — all things, 
above and beneath, — in heaven, earth, and hell, — do 
and will conspire to the ultimate blessedness of the 
saints. The Bible obviously teaches this doctrine, and 
I know of no facts in the universe that militate against 
its universal application. 

II. Hoiu docs this come about ? How is this result 
secured ? 

In order to see this matter in its true light, we need 
to consider that the happiness of moral agents is condi- 
tioned on their holiness, and results from it. The holy 
will of course be happy, and have real enjoyment, in 
proportion to the degree in which they are holy. Still 



TO THOSE THAT LOVE GOD. 2IO, 

further, let it be considered that the holiness of moral 
agents is conditioned upon their knowledge. Every 
moral agent is more or less holy according as he knows 
more or less, and is more or less conformed in heart 
and life to what he knows. I speak now particularly of 
the knowledge of God, whether obtained through his 
word or through his works. 

Now all events are matters of knowledge, and not 
only all events that occur under God's government, but 
God Himself is also an object of knowledge. Accord- 
ing to the Bible, all events will ultimately be known to 
the saints, for the judgment-day will bring them all to 
light. Hence we learn that ultimately the entire his- 
tory of all God's doing will be known to all his crea- 
tures. All He has ever done or shall ever do, whether 
in this world or in other worlds, will be open subjects 
of knowledge to his creatures, and will be known as 
fast and as far as their limited capacities will admit. 

Now it is very plain that if all things, embracing all 
events and all the works of God, are matters of knowl- 
edge ; and if, moreover, knowledge is a condition of real 
holiness; then all the knowledge which the saints attain 
will be at once available to their happiness. It will go 
to enhance their real blessedness. Especially will this 
be true of their knowledge of God and of his countless 
works and various wavs. All things, the saints will 
then see, are parts of one great plan, both those which 
God Himself performs by his direct agency, and those 
which are done through his permissive agency by his 
creatures. It will then be seen that all things are ar- 
ranged and planned for the good of his obedient chil- 



220 ALL THINGS FOR GOOD 

dren ; and when this great, all-controlling principle in 
God's administration comes to be seen in all its bear- 
ings, the knowledge of this truth cannot fail to be a 
source of ineffable blessedness to all the holy. God's 
infinite grace as the great and good Father of all his 
loving children, will be so revealed as to show r that He 
makes all things work together for their good. 

III. Let us now turn our attention to some partic- 
ulars as illustrations of the general truth. 

It is generally supposed that what we call mercies 
and blessings and what we recognize by name as God's 
good gifts to men, are really good things to those that 
love God. We can see that they are, and men univer- 
sally recognize them as good. 

The same is equally true of what we call judgments 
and chastisements — the rebukes of God ; for all these, 
too, are means of grace, and are blessed of God for the 
spiritual good of his children. Their only design as 
they come from our Father's hand is that they may 
work out good to his saints. He does not afflict wil- 
lingly, nor grieve the children of men from caprice, or 
from any pleasure in their pain, but only and wholly 
for their profit, that they may the more deeply ''par- 
take of his holiness." Under this broad principle, we 
know that all the losses and crosses which befall the 
saints, all their burdens of care and responsibility, and 
all their infirmities, shall be overruled for their good. 
All these things will conspire to teach the saints more 
of God and more of themselves. By the aid of such 
revelations they will be able the better to appreciate 



TO THOSE THAT LOVE GOD. 22 1 

God's character and plans of discipline, and their own 
infinite obligation to his manifold grace. 

Nor from the "all things" of our text can we except 
the sins of God's people. They are indeed altogether 
blameworthy for all their sins, and none the less so for 
the good which God educes from them by his overrul- 
ing agency. The sin of Peter was overruled of God 
for his good. He was a more humble and a better man 
as long as he lived. He better knew his own weakness, 
and better appreciated Christ's tender compassion. He 
felt the force of the admonition, "When thou art con- 
verted, strengthen thy brethren," and there was none 
among all the original twelve to whom Christ said 
more emphatically, "Feed my sheep " — "Feed my 
lambs." 

This sin of Peter brought him into great peril. 
"Satan desired to have him that he might sift him as 
wheat," — and if Christ had left him to himself, he 
would doubtless have fallen fatally into the snare of 
the devil. But Christ did not leave him in this hour 
of his need. "I have prayed for thee," said He, "that 
thy faith fail not." Christ kept his hand and eye on 
him, and soon plucked him from the destroyer's grasp. 
In this scene Peter learned more of the length and 
depth of his Saviour's grace than he had ever known 
before. 

This is only a single case, yet it was by no means a 
peculiar case, and therefore it serves to illustrate the 
general law of God's administration over his people. 

Similar was the case of David. No thanks to him, 
but all thanks to God, that his sin was overruled, so as 



222 ALL THINGS FOR GOOD 

in the issue to make him a more meek, humble, peni- 
tent, and holy man. 

Not only are the sins of the saints overruled to 
their good, but the sins of others, of sinners, and even 
of the most wicked. All the mistakes of our associ- 
ates, their infirmities, the thousand nameless things that 
try us and perhaps perplex us greatly, — all these come 
in among the "all things" which God makes subservi- 
ent to the good of his people. There is a woman 
whose husband is a bad man. His temper is uncom- 
fortable; his ways are adapted to make his intimate 
associates unhappy, and hence he causes his wife many 
sore trials. Yet if she loves God, and makes Him the 
Refuge of her soul, all these little trials shall certainly 
work out her good both in this world and the next. 

Not less so of the husband who has a bad wife. 
Not less so of those unhappy families in which the 
husband and the wife are great trials to each other. 
So of parents and children. Parents may be a source 
of trial to their children, and it often happens that 
children are a source of the greatest trial to their 
parents. But howsoever the trials occur, the great 
principle of our text applies to them all. To those 
that love God, they shall all work together for good. 

The principle also reaches and applies to all the 
temptations of the devil. Let him poison his darts 
with demoniac skill and hurl them with hellish malice, 
they shall not ultimately harm those that sincerely 
love God. " The name of the Lord is a strong tower 
into which the righteous run and are safe." The 
Christian has a panoply complete, wherewith he may 



TO THOSE THAT LOVE GOD. 223 

be able to withstand all the fiery darts of the devil. 
And what is more to our present purpose; — though 
wounded by these darts, he shall not be slain, though 
cast down, he shall not be destroyed; for there is a 
healing, overruling hand under whose agency even 
the wounds that Satan inflicts shall be wrought into 
better health and more spiritual vitality than the saints 
enjoyed before. God knows how to foil Satan with 
his own weapons, and make even his apparent tempo- 
rary success react in terrible defeat and disgrace upon 
his own head. God knows how not only to rescue his 
saints, but to do much more than simply to rescue 
them: He imbues them with new vigor, and sancti- 
fies to them their most bitter and humiliating experi- 
ence. 

Yet further, all events are designed to illustrate God's 
true character. The whole creation is only a revela- 
tion of God, and all events that occur in it only serve 
to reveal more and more of God to intelligent beings. 
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament 
showeth his handiwork." How many lectures upon 
God are read to us by the silent stars ! How many 
lessons are repeated to us, day by day, by his rising 
suns and nightly dews and timely showers ! Where 
in all the works of God, whether in nature or provi- 
dence, is there a thing that does not speak his praise, 
and bear some testimony which He can bless to the 
souls of his saints ? 

IV. We knoiv that all things work together for 
good to the saints. So says Paul. How did he and 
his brethren know this to be true ? Perhaps they 



224 ALL THINGS FOR GOOD 

knew it by revelations already made in God's word; 
or it may be that his mind rested this truth upon the 
general knowledge of God enjoyed. It is a matter of 
revelation. The Bible amply affirms this truth. And 
it is also a plain dictate of reason. When we come 
to understand what God's attributes are as affirmed 
by the reason, we shall see that such a God can suffer 
nothing to occur which shall not in some way result in 
good to his friends. This must be so, if it be true 
that God loves his friends, studies to promote their 
highest good, has all events under his control, had his 
choice in the depths of a past eternity among all possi- 
ble events, and could determine to cause and suffer to 
exist such only as should subserve the ends that lay 
near his heart. 

It is often a matter of experience and observation 
in this world that things which seem freighted with 
destruction turn out to be full of life and salvation. 
For a time, all looked dark and desolate, but light and 
joy came out at last. Look at the case of Job. You 
can scarcely think of one form of grief and sorrow 
which did not blend in the throng that rushed upon him, 
as if to crush him; but he lived to see all these things 
work together for good to himself both for time and 
eternity. So, in general, I remark, that observation 
and experience will often show that this doctrine ap- 
plies even to the present life, and has its exemplifica- 
tion even here. Yet the apostle did not mean to 
affirm that God's plans have their full development in 
the present world. His affirmation contemplated a 



TO THOSE THAT LOVE GOD. 22 5 

future world in which results but partially unfolded 
here can have their full and everlasting development. 

REMARKS. 

1. Saints will in eternity blame themselves for 
what they cannot on the whole regret. Seeing the re- 
sults which God has educed by his overruling agency, 
they cannot wish they had never done those wicked 
things; yet surely they will none the less blame them- 
selves for their own sins. As to the blame of sin, no 
matter how much good may come from our wrong- 
doing, it never can affect the question of our guilt, nor 
its measure. Take the case of Judas. No thanks to 
him that his infamous treason was one of the agencies 
which provided a Saviour for a ruined world. The 
good which accrued from the death of Christ changes 
not the intrinsic character of his sin: cannot in any 
measure make it less mean, less sordid, less revengeful. 
Hence he must blame himself as much as if no good, 
but only evil, had resulted from his betrayal of Christ. 
It was God alone, by his own infinite wisdom and 
power, who overruled this sin to great good. All 
praise therefore to Him, and none the less blame to 
Judas the traitor. 

2. Our subject shows how the saints can be per- 
fectly happy in heaven to all eternity. For there is in 
many minds a point of obscurity in this matter which 
needs explanation. The saints will see all their past 
sins in heaven's clear light, and they cannot but blame 
themselves for every sin they ever committed. How, 
then, can they be perfectly happy ? 

IO* 



226 ALL THINGS FOR GOOD 

The answer is, the) will see how their sins have 
been overruled for good, and they will rejoice in this 
good which God brings out of their iniquities. In this 
exercise of joy, they will be deeply humble, as indeed 
they will have all reason to be, and their joy will be 
purely a joy in God, blended with everlasting adora- 
tion and praise that He had both the power and the 
heart to bring so much good out of their own wrong 
doings. Every view taken by a saint in heaven of his 
past sins will redound in praise to God, but in deeper 
humiliation to himself. Yet this humiliation will by 
no means conflict with the saint's happiness — for he en- 
joys being humble — he enjoys giving all glory and 
praise to God. 

3. God blames a multitude of things, but has no 
regrets. He has often expressed Himself as we do 
when we feel regret, but these forms of expression are 
shaped in accommodation to our modes of speaking, 
and when used by God should be interpreted in ac- 
cordance with His known character and known rela- 
tions. It cannot be that, on the whole, under all the 
circumstances of the case, He really regrets the occur- 
rence of anything that takes place. He blames the 
guilty author, He condemns the sin; — but it has not 
taken Him by surprise; it is no new thing to Him, and 
it has not in any wise frustrated his purposes and 
plans for the government of the universe. Before 
this sin was committed, or its author existed, God saw 
how He could overrule it for good, and for so much 
good, that, on the whole, He judged it better to let its 
author come into existence and commit this sin, rather 



TO THOSE THAT LOVE GOD. 227 

than prevent either the one or the other. Yet He 
blames every sin as much as if no good could be 
educed from it. The sinner is none the better for this 
development of good through God's overruling agency. 
To God alone belongs all the praise; for both the 
good intention and the good results are his alone. But 
for his good hand interposing, all the results would 
have been evil, and the sinner's intention is, of course, 
all evil, and only evil continually. 

Yet while God blames both sinners and saints for all 
their sins, He freely forgives the believing penitent and 
accepts him as a son. Then He so overrules the sin 
as not to be agonized by anything that occurs. 

We sometimes see results corresponding to this in 
the earthly discipline which parents exercise over their 
children. The parent sees that his child has sinned; 
at first he regrets the thing exceedingly; — but having, 
in the fear and help of God, done his utmost to re- 
claim and improve his child, he sees his efforts crowned 
with the divine blessing, and he says, That sin of my 
dear child almost killed me, — but now I see him so 
much changed for the better, that I can no longer re- 
gret the means which have resulted in so much good. 

4. From this it does not follow that sin is the nec- 
essary means of the greatest good. For if, under the 
very circumstances in which they sin, men would obey 
rather than disobey — do right rather than wrong — then 
yet greater good might accrue than accrues from God's 
overruling of their sin. But God prefers his own 
course to any other which He can take. Under the 
circumstances He always does the wisest and best 



228 ALL THINGS FOR GOOD 

thing possible to Him, and hence He has no occasion 
for regret. He brings out the greatest good possible 
to Himself. If his creatures who do in fact sin, would 
be persuaded to do right instead of wrong, their agency 
for good, concurrent with his, would educe a still aug- 
mented good. 

For illustration; — a father commands his son to per- 
form some certain work. But he has good reason to 
believe that the son will not do it unless he himself 
stays at home to control the son by his presence. Yet 
it is so important for him to go away that he decides 
to go, though at the hazard of his son's disobedience. 
In case the son disobeys, he trusts he can subject him 
to such discipline as shall bring out some good, and 
the good to be secured by his own presence elsewhere 
is too great to be sacrificed. The greatest good pos- 
sible can be secured only by the concurrent agency of 
father and son. The father can secure the greatest 
good possible to himself by going away, even though 
his son should disobey in his absence. 

5. But if sin were overruled so as to be at last the 
means of the greatest good, no thanks to the sinner. 
Suppose it were the case that the whole world would 
have been damned if Judas had not betrayed Christ, 
so that his sin secured the salvation of the world — no 
thanks to Judas for such a result, for he meant not so, 
neither did his heart think so. He intended no good 
to the world, nor to any being in it except himself. 
His act of betraying his friend would be none the less 
mean, sordid, and revengeful, for the good which in 



TO THOSE THAT LOVE GOD. 229 

the case supposed would ensue. The good wrought 
out would be wholly attributable to God. 

6. It is naturally impossible to sin benevolently. 
There can be no such thing as a benevolent sin. To 
sin with a design to do good is an absurdity in terms. 
To say, therefore, that we do evil that good may come, 
is absurd and impossible. To do evil for the sake and 
with the motive of securing real good is a self-contra- 
diction. For the doing evil implies a wicked intention, 
and the having a good end in view implies a good in- 
tention. But to have both a good intention and a bad 
intention at the same instant, each determining the 
same act, is surely a self-contradiction. If a man 
intends good by his act, it is not sin. No man ever 
sinned in order that it might redound to the glory of 
God. No tyrant ever persecuted the saints of God 
that it might do them good. Suppose a wicked man 
were to say, My wife is a good woman ; let me plague 
her now for her good. It will only make her a better 
woman, so let me torment her all I can. There is no 
way in which I can do her so much good. 

He can't do any such thing! It is naturally im- 
possible that a man should be honest in trying to do 
good by wickedness. This sinning benevolently is a 
natural impossibility. 

7. Saints should always be in a position to fall back 
upon God in all their trials in this life. They should 
stand in such relations to God that they can rationally 
and naturally trust him to shape and control all events, 
even here, so as to make them work out good in the 
highest degree. If they walk humbly before God, they 



230 ALL THINGS FOR GOOD 

may know that all things shall be made to conspire for 
their good. Only let them truly love God and trust 
Him ; — then they need not fear the issues of any events 
whatever that may occur. None can occur without 
God's permission, or independently of his direction. 
They may therefore be assured that God will shape all 
their bearings for the good of those that love Him. 

But if professed Christians are living in sin, they have 
no claim on this promise and no right to expect its ful- 
filment to themselves. But if they are not in sin, they 
may, like Micah, cry out triumphantly, "Rejoice not 
against me, O mine enemy ; when I fall I shall arise ; 
when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto 
me." 

8. This truth affords ground for strong consolation 
to the saints. Why should they ever be sad? Sup- 
pose all things do not apparently work well now. Let 
them still have faith in God and rest in his promises. 
Has He not said that all things shall work together for 
good to his loving friends? No wonder saints are often 
seen smiling through their tears, for joy lies deep in 
their souls, though' sadness may overcloud their face. 
Joys and sorrows are often strangely blended in their 
bosom. Calamities, disappointments, bereavements, 
befall them as they do other men, and these things are 
not for the present joyous but grievous ; — but their 
faith in God assures them that all will yet be well. 
Many things will befall them in life that burn and ago- 
nize their sensibility ; but deep within are trust and 
faith in God and a sweet leaning upon his promises — 



TO THOSE THAT LOVE GOD. 23 1 

for they know that the ground of their consolation is 
firm and strong as the pillars of the universe! 

9. We may rejoice in whatever befalls any of God's 
real children, whether ourselves or others. Parents 
may rejoice in whatever befalls their godly children or 
friends. Many things may occur which cause tears now; 
yet, as Christians, our watchword should be, It will 
surely be well for them in the latter end. The things 
which give the severest shock will do most good, and 
those which seem most afflictive, when God has 
brought out all their results, may be found to be most 
blest to his saints. Those fearful events which seemed 
to come with a crash, as if they would break down all 
the pillars of your foundation — Oh, how sweet to see 
even those strange things so strangely overruled for the 
good of the saints! 

10. Very few Christians can live a single week, or 
even day, without needing the consolation which this 
truth affords. Hence they ought to hold it fast, — to 
keep it treasured in their memory — lying near their 
hearts — ready to be applied for consolation and for 
strength in every emergency. 

This truth may well reconcile the saints to any and 
all events of divine providence. They can afford to be 
submissive while they know that their Father will make 
all things work together for their good. They can af- 
ford to have travail and suffering, for even their most 
intense sorrows shall all conspire to work out good to 
their souls. Therefore let not unbelief deprive us of 
this consolation. Apart from the light of faith, many 



232 ALL THINGS FOR GOOD 

things will occur that are inexplicably dark, but faith 
illumines and explains all. 

How wonderful are God's marvellous works! Well 
may it be said of Him, "He is wonderful in counsel 
and excellent in working." Results may lie hidden 
long, but they will come out at last in glorious sunlight, 
showing that God's hand has guided events to their re- 
sults with unerring wisdom. In the light of eternity, 
if not in the light of time, they shall see it all, and see- 
ing it shall wonder and adore. God, they will shout 
aloud, hath done all things well! Then, do not allow 
yourselves now to be deprived of this great consolation. 

But do you say, "Ah, if I only knew that I am a 
child of God, if I only knew that I really love God, then 
I could receive this consolation legitimately ; then I 
could feel that it belongs to me ; then I could say, Let 
come anything that God is pleased to send, for I am 
anchored in his love and on his promises"? 

Now you may be very guilty for these doubts, for 
surely you may be free from them altogether ; but still 
if, with all your doubtings, you are really God's child, 
they shall all be overruled for your good, so that in 
heaven you will have it to say, How wonderful are 
God's ways! That He should bring me out of a re- 
gion so dark and desolate, and then make all my 
doubts and darkness subserve some useful ends to my 
own soul and to his glory — that out of such materials 
He should bring out any good at last — how wonderful ! 

Finally, we can see that the volumes of glory and 
praise to God must be to all eternity continually accu- 
mulating. Fresh revelations each hour of his wonder- 



TO THOSE THAT LOVE GOD. 233 

ful wisdom and love must evolve from humble and holy 
hearts fresh accessions of praise and honor to his bless- 
ed name. Is it not delightful to think that such a God 
shall be thus praised and honored through eternity! 



XIII. 



ALL THINGS CONSPIRE FOR EVIL TO THE 

SINNER. 



"Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his 
hands shall be given him." — Isaiah iii. II. 

"When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of 
iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed forever." — 
Psalms xcii. 7. 

"To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense ; their foot shall slide 
in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things 
that shall come upon them make haste." — Deut. xxxii. 35. 

"Whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damn- 
ation slumbereth not." — 2 Peter ii. 3. 

FROM the bare reading of these passages you will 
see that they present a direct contrast to the 
great truth of our morning discourse. In that it was 
shown that all things work together for good to those 
that love God. In this our text leads to the opposite 
truth in regard to the sinner. All things conspire to- 
gether for their ruin. All tends to complete ~and ag- 
gravate their destruction. 

This awful truth is taught throughout the Bible in 
a great variety of forms. I have read to you a few of 
the passages which affirm it ; I might read many others, 
but it cannot be necessary. 

Obligation is imposed on moral agents by the light 



ALL CONSPIRES FOR EVIL TO THE SIXXER. 235 

of truth. To know truth respecting duty is the con- 
dition of obligation. When moral agents are able to 
understand it, then the value of the good to be sought 
measures the obligation to seek it. All are bound to 
be benevolent, — in other words, to seek the good of all 
beings. To know that any beings need some particu- 
lar form of good, and that under existing circumstan- 
ces you are capable of securing to them this good, 
imposes on you the obligation to secure it, which obli- 
gation is the greater by how much the greater is the 
good in question. Hence, as knowledge increases, so 
does guilt increase. The more you know of your duty 
and of the interests that depend upon faithfully doing 
it, the greater your guilt if you refuse to do it. On the 
supposition that the moral agent remains in sin, refus- 
ing to do known duty, then, the more his knowledge 
increases, the greater must be his guilt. 

As all events are to be made public under God's 
moral government, it is for his own interest, as well as 
for the interest of his creatures, that He should apprise 
them fully of his character and of the principles of his 
government; and, to make ail clear to finite minds, it is 
important that He should spread out before them 
somewhat fully the details of his moral administration, 
so as to leave nothing involved in darkness or doubt, 
on any important subject, to any honest mind. It 
seems essential to the well-working of God's moral 
government that He should, at least ultimately, illus- 
trate his own acts so fully as to leave no ground G f 
cavil, that every mouth may be stopped, and every 
candid mind in the universe be satisfied in regard to all 



236 ALL THINGS CONSPIRE 

his works and to every point in his vast administration. 

Who can doubt that the great Governor of the uni- 
verse will vindicate his own conduct? Who can sup- 
pose that He will leave one dark point unexplained? 

Hence, as all events are to be made known, both for 
the vindication of God's character and for the instruc- 
tion of all moral agents, it follows that the destruction 
of the wicked will be aggravated by every accession of 
light to their minds. Every new revelation of God's 
works or ways which is made to them must conspire, 
(1) to enlighten their minds, and (2), by consequence, 
to deepen their guilt and enhance and aggravate their 
doom. 

This is, beyond question, the truth in respect to the 
sinner's relation to God and to his government. It 
presents the subject, however, in an abstract form. 
Let us therefore proceed to notice some of the particu- 
lars which illustrate this truth. 

Men will be held responsible for mercies abused. 
Hence those things which most please sinners, and 
which they call their good things, are charged to their 
account, and they must be held to the strictest account- 
ability for their use or abuse of all their good things. 
The sinner is charged in God's book with every breath 
he breathes, — with every meal he eats — with every 
draught of God's water that he drinks — with every 
day's health that he enjoys, and with every night's 
rest. He is, indeed, welcome to all these good things, 
if he use them as he ought to ; but if he will use these 
blessings in the devil's service, he must give account 
thereof to God. Why should he not? The Bible 



FOR EVIL TO THE SINNER. 237 

most abundantly teaches this truth. It assumes that 
wicked men rob God, and that for this guilt they must 
be held to a strict account. 

If these are facts, then" sinners are getting deeply in 
debt. As a man who in his business never pays but 
runs himself more and more deeply in debt, so sinners 
are constantly swelling their black account with their 
great Benefactor. The rain and the sunshine He sends 
them ; the food and the friends he grants them, — every 
one of these things, used in sin and for sin, spent on 
their lusts and with an ungrateful heart towards the 
Giver, must all pass on to his book of account to be 
settled in the great reckoning day. 

Everything, therefore, that now pleases the sinner 
so much will swell the mass of things that shall agon- 
ize him at the judgment-day and throughout his eternal 
existence. Why do not sinners consider that a day of 
reckoning will come, and that one of the most fearful 
things then to be canvassed will be the long catalogue 
of abused mercies ? These things are good in them- 
selves, yet it is better you should never have had them, 
than that you should pervert them to purposes of sin 
and self-indulgence and ingratitude. Ah, it were bet- 
ter for you that you should never have been born, than 
that you should pervert the powers God gives you, 
to make yourself a guilty rebel against your Maker. 
Better that you should never have health than that you 
should use it in sin. Many of you bless yourselves that 
you live while others die ; but if you abuse life, it were 
better that you had died long ago — yea, better that 
you had never been born. Take heed how you deem 



238 ALL THINGS CONSPIRE 

yourself fortunate for having so much health ; — you 
cannot afford to have any health at all, if you abuse it 
in sin, and lay up a fearful account to render for every 
hour's comfort. How can you afford to live, while 
every hour's life swells your fearful debt, and makes 
you worse and worse a bankrupt, on the great books 
of the final day! 

Not only all these countless mercies, but all the par- 
ticulars embraced under them and connected with them, 
are to come into your account. All will prove a great 
curse to you if selfishly abused. 

The same principle applies to the entire course of 
God's discipline towards you, embracing the various 
rebukes of his providence. The Lord, for purposes of 
discipline, may smite your property or your person. 
He may give wings to your riches and a blight on your 
strength. Losses may checker the scene of your long 
prosperity, or by pain and weakness the Lord may seek 
to impress your soul with a sense of dependence on an 
almighty arm. All these are measures taken for your 
good, but if you will not improve them, they 7 will only 
work out your deeper ruin. There is a sinner who has 
been brought down to the verge of the grave by sick- 
ness. His Heavenly r Father sought by 7 this means to 
induce serious thought and true repentance, but He 
sought in vain. The heart was made no better by this 
affliction. The sick man recovered through divine 
mercv, and he blessed himself for his restored health, 
but it cannot be said that he blessed his great Bene- 
factor. He blessed himself, and thought of his good 
fortune, but Oh ! how much better for him to have 



FOR EVIL TO THE SINNER. 239 

gone quick to his grave, than that he should rise from 
his sick-bed only to have a harder heart and a blacker 
account to settle through all eternity with his insulted 
Benefactor. 

Perhaps the deluded man said to himself on his re- 
covery, Now God has punished me all I deserve, and I 
have no more punishment to fear for my sins. Far 
otherwise! He has not been punished at all. These 
trials on earth are only chastisements, intended for 
moral discipline. God sent them as the most hopeful 
means for doing you good, but you have utterly re- 
sisted and defeated his intention ; you have only con- 
verted into a curse what your Father sent upon you 
for a blessing. 

How marvellous that wicked men should suppose 
that these light afflictions are the proper punishment 
of sin ! No; these are only God's means of discipline, 
employed here in this life for the good of men's souls. 
Instead of being themselves the retribution due for sin, 
they are only the guarantees sent on beforehand by 
the Great King, involving his pledge that He will 
punish sin unless He can secure repentance. They 
imply God's holy abhorrence of sin; they are the incip- 
ient manifestations of the great truth that He can 
never overlook transgression. What! sinner, do you 
think God can by any means, and under any circum- 
stances, fail to notice your sin? If He could, then you 
might find Him neglecting the means of moral disci- 
pline. But if, on the contrary, you find Him ever 
wakeful to the work of discipline, you may know that, 



240 ALL THINGS CONSPIRE 

this failing of its object, there is another kind of notice 
to be taken of sin. 

Suppose a father should chasten his son with a grief 
that seemed to tear his very heart and deeply wound 
his spirit, but all is in vain; would not even you affirm 
that such a son ought to be punished, and much the 
more, for the pains his father has taken to save him, 
and for the wicked stubbornness that would not be 
subdued to love and duty? See that mother, wearied 
and worn; she has chastened her daughter, but it avails 
nothing; — the deep agony of her heart is crushing her 
to the grave, and her soul weeps over the cruel abuse 
of a wayward daughter; — now tell me, shall all of this 
stubbornness and abuse towards a faithful and fond 
mother be passed over, and not be heeded ? 

So, sinner, of all the things for which you deserve to 
be punished, this is the chief. God has taken so much 
pains to bless you; his very heart has been moved to 
the centre of his being, and once and again He has 
cried out, " How can I give thee up?" And now, all 
effort and painstaking having failed, shall no account 
be made of the stubbornness and guilt which have frus- 
trated the toil of infinite love ? 

That sickness which your Heavenly Father sent upon 
you did not reclaim you from your sins. Ah ! it will 
cost you too much to abuse not only God's mercies, 
but his chastisements also. To your surprise, and sor- 
row too, you will find that God has not done all this 
for your good, that, when abused and resisted by you, 
it should go for nothing. You have not seen the end 
of these things yet. You came up from your sick-bed, 



FOR EVIL TO THE SINNER. 24 1 

did- you? Yes. And then forgot all your sick-bed 
vows and solemn promises of amendment ? Yes ! And, 
on you went, in your sin, till you became ten fold more 
hardened than ever! Ah! you cannot afford to be 
thus chastised, and to have it all result in waxing worse 
and worse, and in becoming only the more ripe for 
perdition. 

All your infirmities and all your sins; also the sins 
of those who live near you so that you can see the 
course of God's dealings with them; indeed, the whole 
history of sin in the universe so far as known to you, — 
all conspire to heighten your responsibility and aggra- 
vate the guilt of your sin. For all these things serve 
to show you the real evil and-wrong of sin; they serve 
to reveal God's hatred of sin, and to assure you that 
He must and will punish it. Both the good and the 
evil deeds of all the moral beings in the universe, so far 
as you can know them, have an important bearing 
■upon your responsibilities as a moral agent, because 
they affect the amount of your knowledge of sin and 
of God, and hence of your own personal duty. 

I am aware that sinners are prone to overlook this 
fact. They often say, We are held responsible only for 
our own sins, and not for the sins of others; but mark ! 
the sins of others increase your knowledge both of God 
and of duty, and hence increase your moral responsi- 
bility and heighten your guilt, if in the face of so much 
knowledge you still persist in sinning. The good and 
the evil of all beings within your knowledge serve to 
augment your responsibility. These things are con- 
tinually pouring light on your mind. So, also, does 
11 



242 ALL THINGS CONSPIRE 

the entire course of your own history and experience 
as a sinner under God's government. You cannot eat 
or drink, rise up or lie down, — you can be nowhere, 
and can do nothing, — without having a continual 
stream of influence poured upon you, which heightens 
your responsibility because it increases the knowledge 
of God, of sin, and of duty, under which and against 
which you sin. All your religious privileges belong to 
the same class, and bear pre-eminently upon the point 
of your moral responsibility and consequent guilt. Did 
you ever own a Bible? Has some kind Christian friend 
given you a copy of that blessed book ? Your own 
Bible ! You might read it at your pleasure. It is 
God's own message from- heaven to your soul. But 
Oh, how you have slighted it! Other friends have 
sent you messages and letters, but you have treated 
none of them so ! You have always at least read then- 
letters, and have commonly treated their expressed 
wishes with due respect. But you have insulted God 
by treating his letters with almost total neglect! Oh, 
what will that neglected Bible testify against you ! Per- 
haps your mother gave it to you. Her careful hand 
laid it safely in your trunk when you prepared to leave 
the home of your childhood. God was in that mother's 
hand, and through it He placed a copy of his word 
under your eye, and threw on you a double responsi- 
bility to heed it well. You said then, " I am glad that 
I have got a Bible." So am I — if you use it well. If you 
study candidly its precepts and heed them in the fear 
of God, 'tis all well; but if not, all will go ill with you, 
and that neglected Bible will follow you up to the 



FOR EVIL TO THE SINNER. 243 

judgment, forecasting your doom and crying out, 
Anathema! ANATHEMA!! let the despiser of God's 
word be ANATHEMA, forever! 

And you know this would be only simple justice! 
You can see that it ought to be so ! 

REMARKS. 

1. I said in the morning that all things work to- 
gether for good to the Christian, and that ultimately, 
when he comes to see how all things have had this re- 
sult, he will regret nothing he has ever done, although 
he may greatly blame himself for all his sins. It is 
often the case that Christians here learn lessons of deep 
experience under their sins. They are deeply affected 
when they see how God overrules even their sins for 
good to themselves and to others. 

But nothing of this sort happens to sinners. They 
are not of those that love God, and they have no reason 
to expect that God will make all things work together 
for their good. Hence they must both blame them- 
selves and also regret everything they have ever done. 
They must feel both self-blame and regret that they 
ever had a Bible; that they ever had a friend; that 
they ever had health; that they ever had existence! 
Alas, they will say, alas, that I was ever born! Alas, 
that I lived so long! Alas, that I ever had one mercy 
from God to abuse so guiltily! Woe is me that I had 
a pious mother! Ten thousand woes on my guilty 
soul that God ever sent me his gospel ! Ah me ! how 
have 1 treasured up wrath against the day of wrath ! 

2. Sinners have never any good reasons for joy. 



244 ALL THINGS CONSPIRE 

You recollect the seventy-third Psalm. The Psalmist 
had been struck with the fact that the wicked were so 
prosperous and so happy. It puzzled him sorely. 
Long time he could not understand it, and was there- 
by thrown into great perplexity. But when he went 
in God's sanctuary, then he says, " I understood their 
end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; 
thou castedst them down into destruction." Let the 
sinner only see his own case in the light shed from 
God's w r ord in his sanctuary, and he too will under- 
stand that he has no occasion for joy. He will see 
how insane are all his rejoicings. What! and shall he 
rejoice in that which will only work out his deeper 
damnation? Can any but an insane mind do this? 

Some one of our children may be prosperous, but 
yet in sin. If so, he is only abusing the blessings God 
sends him, and surely this can be no matter of joy 
either to him or to his parents. He cannot afford to 
have any of these blessings — to use in sin! Ah no! 
for he must pay for them at last in the bitterness of 
eternal yet unavailing regret. If you therefore have 
unconverted children, or if I have, we have no occasion 
for joy in them, however prosperous they may be. 

3. Sinners procure this result to themselves. It all 
comes, sinners, from your own wickedness— --from your 
own voluntary and persistent impenitence and unbelief. 
If you would turn about and love God, all would be 
well for you. But if you will abuse his grace and re- 
ject his authority, all is wrong and all will work ill to 
your soul. 

In a spirit not the most honest, you may say, Why 



FOR EVIL. TO THE SINNER. 24$ 

did God give me existence at all? Pie knew how I 
should abuse it, and only bring a curse on myself and 
curse my own existence. 

You ask such questions as these, perhaps, and yet 
you know how impious they are in their implications 
against your Maker! You ask, Why did God give me 
existence? That you might use it to his glory and to 
your own perfect blessedness. But you reply, What ? 
when He knew how I shoulcl only curse myself by sin 
instead of blessing myself by holy obedience? Yes, 
certainly; none the less so because of his foreknowl- 
edge of your course. Has God's knowledge of the 
course you would take at all lessened or changed your 
moral responsibility — the perfect freeness of your 
choices — the radical, essential guilt of your sin ? 

God gave you voluntary powers, that, on your own 
responsibility, you might use them for your own wel- 
fare. He gave you his Son, and in Him an offered sal- 
vation, that you might lay hold of everlasting life. He 
gave you a Bible, that you might read it and become wise 
unto salvation. He gave you these and a thousand 
other blessings, that they might be improved, and cer- 
tainly you do not need to be told that, if you will not 
improve them, you have no right to complain of God. 

4. Sinners need not be stumbled by any calamities 
whatever which befall God's real children. A Christian 
is sick? Well, what of that? Is not the Saviour's 
arm all round about him? But he is going to die? 
Well, what of that? Is not heaven just before him, 
and his God with him all through the dark valley of 
the river of death? He is going to lose all his prop- 



246 ALL THINGS CONSPIRE 

erty, is he? What then? He has got no real prop- 
erty except God, for, long ago, his heart made choice 
of God for its portion forever. 

Sinners often talk as if they were stumbled to see so 
many calamities befalling the people of God. Let 
them not trouble themselves about this matter. The 
Lord knovveth them that are his, and they shall never 
lack his constant care. 

5. All events that transpire in this world or the 
next will only make the great gulf fixed between saints 
and sinners the deeper and the broader — will only 
make the saints more holy and more happy, the sin- 
ners more sinful and more wretched. The widening 
space between them in character and in relations to 
God's throne will of necessity constitute a gulf which 
none can ever pass over. 

6. What an infinite folly is it to judge of things 
only by their relations to this life! to feel and to think 
of them only in view of this narrow and limited rela- 
tion ! Looking; at things in this light only, we could 
not rejoice in the Christian's case ; we could not pro- 
nounce him happy because he has the Almighty God 
for his friend. Viewing things from such a standpoint 
of observation, we should find everything dark and 
perplexing. But in the light of God's sanctuary all 
comes out clear. See those political, money-making 
men, scrambling after power or wealth : suppose they 
get it — what then? The more they get, so much the 
more have they to answer for ; so much the deeper 
will their responsibilities, if not honestly met, sink 
them in perdition. Christians, therefore, have never 



FOR EVIL TO THE SINNER. 247 

any reason to envy sinners for their earthly prosperity. 
If they are ever tempted to do so, let them go into the 
sanctuary ; there shall they learn the sinner's awful 
end. Coming forth from the house of God, they will 
say : 

"Now I'm convinced the Lord is kind 

To men of heart sincere, 
Yet once my foolish heart repined, 

And bordered on despair. 

I grieved to see the wicked thrive, 

And spoke with angry breath, — 
'How pleasant and profane they live, 

How peaceful is their death !'" 

But having searched God's word, he sings : 

"There, as in some prophetic glass, 

I saw the sinner sit, 
High mounted on a slippery place, 

Beside a fiery pit. 

I heard the wretch profanely boast, 

Till at thy frown he fell ; 
His honors in a dream were lost, 

And he awoke in hell." 

One of our texts affirms, "Their feet shall slide in 
due time, and the things that shall come upon them 
make haste." Another declares, "Their judgment now 
of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slum- 
bereth not." "Sudden destruction cometh upon them, 
as pangs upon a woman with child, and they shall not 
escape." 

7. God's conduct in all this is just and righteous 
altogether. Who can object because God holds the 
sinner responsible for the Bible He gives him, or for 
the existence with which He has endowed him? Dare 



248 ALL THINGS CONSPIRE 

you say or even think that God does wrong to hold 
you responsible for the Bible, for the Sabbath, for the 
gospel, and for all the knowledge of duty which He 
has placed within your reach? Is He not bound, by 
the eternal laws of right, to hold all his creatures re- 
sponsible according to the measure of the blessings He 
has conferred upon them ? Could his moral kingdom 
be safe on any other principle of administration ? 
Would the holy beings around his throne endure any 
deviation from these eternally and intrinsically right- 
eous principles? Do you not see — for yourself — that 
if you persist in abusing his mercies, God will bring 
you to account, and must do it, or cease to be a right- 
eous God? It were a mal-arrangement and a mal-ad- 
ministration, if God were to deviate at all from the 
principle of holding every moral agent to the strictest 
accountability for all his moral conduct, according to 
the light he has enjoyed. 

How long, sinner, have you lived? During all these 
years, what have you done ? How have you used your 
life up to this hour? Is it not time that you should 
pause and take an observation? 

In the past pages of my own personal history I can 
see where God summoned me to answer these solemn 
questions. I had spent all my early life in new settle- 
ments, had enjoyed only the most scanty means of re- 
ligious instruction, — had never heard a prayer in my 
father's house, — yet one night I most vividly remember 
I lay a long time awake, and I asked myself, How old 
am I ? How have I lived up to this hour ? What 
have I done towards determining the future condition of 



FOR EVIL TO THE SINNER. 249 

my existence? These were questions I had never 
heard before ; but God put them home to my soul in a 
way that made my flesh quiver and my bones quake. 
I had spent half my life — for I looked then upon«the 
age of forty as the limit of my earthly days ; I had lived 
out half my life, yet what had I done for God or for my 
own eternal well-being? 

Have you, sinner, ever taken such a reckoning? 
Sailing along unknown seas in the voyage of life, have 
you ever paused to take in sails, get out your instru- 
ments, and take your bearing? Have you ever stopped, 
as every wise mariner does, to get out your instruments 
on some fair, sunny day, to find where you are, 
and which way you must steer to gain the haven of 
peace and rest ? Oh, some of you have never made 
one careful, thorough observation to find your course 
and your actual position ! The fair, sunny days God 
gives you, you are too reckless to improve for so need- 
ful a purpose. O sinner, there are fearful rocks of 
damnation close under your lee! The darkness of 
the tempest is gathering fast upon you ; soon you will 
feel the mountain waves tossing your frail bark, and 
the storm-blast will howl through your shrouds to 
shriek the requiem of a lost spirit! How will the vivid 
lightnings gleam adown your masts, and the thunders 
break in peals like the judgment trump! 

Ah, sinner, why did you not take your observation 

before your bark made these rocks of damnation, 

and before the storm-king was out in his fearfullest 

terrors, to dash your soul upon the breakers of final 

ruin? How cam you afford to live in such mad reck- 
11* 



250 ALL THINGS CONSPIRE 

lessness of your soul's well-being? How can you 
afford to live content in sin amid such perils of dam- 
nation? Oh, to think of your case! When I pass 
you in the streets, sometimes I rejoice in your joy, 
for you seem to be happy ; but more often I weep, 
for I see you in your sins, treasuring up wrath 
against the day of wrath. Yes; here you are in your 
sins, getting an education, doing the very thing which, 
above all other things, must augment your responsibil- 
ity and aggravate your guilt, if you will not repent. 
Ah, you cannot afford to live so! Dear youth, how 
can you afford to go to the judgment with all the 
heightened responsibility of an educated sinner? Why 
will you make your very existence, and all the mercies 
with which God has blessed this existence, a living and 
eternal curse? 

It need not be so. You may change the whole cur- 
rent of your future destiny. It may be done by simply 
changing the current of your present life — by simply 
giving your heart to God and your whole being to his 
service. Will you do this? How many times you 
have been called to decide this question ! and, alas, 
called only in vain! Oh, come now, and make one 
thorough observation 1 See where you are and what is 
before you. And will you refuse to do a thing so rea- 
sonable? Ah, what a dark night is coming on! How 
will the dreadful tempest roar and howl around your 
miserable soul — the tempest of divine wrath that must 
break on the head of the despiser of saving mercy! 
And must you be thrust into prison, and not be re- 
leased, till you have paid the uttermost -farthing? Must 



FOR EVIL TO THE SINNER. 25 I 

the doom of the damned be your eternal portion ? It 
will be if so you choose. "They that hate me," saith 
the voice of offered mercy, "love death." 

8. What a contrast is here! All things work good 
to the saint. Although he weeps along his pathway 
of life with mingled tears of penitence and joy, yet 
soon he passes beyond all his pains and trials. Up, up, 
he soars, high above all sorrow, high aloft from this 
vale of tears. But the sinner dances along, gaily 
laughing and sporting his way — God calling, rebuking, 
and entreating ; saints weeping in grief over his mad- 
ness and his impending doom ; all creation in agony 
for him, but he dashes on. See, mark the contrast! 
Note how it widens continually. Saints ascend upward 
— mounting zip, UP; — but sinners descend, going dowm, 
down, along the sides of the pit, amid the wailings of 
eternal despair. 

Do you say, Enough, enough, I have heard enough ; 
you have said enough ; I am persuaded, and I am ready 
to come ; I will no more abuse my Saviour — no longer 
slight his offered love? Come, then, you prodigal, 
come back to your Father's house! for there is bread 
enough and to spare, and you need not perish with" 
hunger. Come back with your free-hearted confessions 
of folly and guilt! Come, and beg for a pittance of 
the crumbs that fall from his table! Now is the day 
and the hour of mercy — now is the accepted time! 

Need I press again on your attention the wide and 
awful contrast between saints and sinners? They live 
together here ; the same roof shelters them ; the same 
table spreads for them their daily bread ; the same sun 



252 ALL THINGS CONSPIRE 

rises and pours its blaze of light and joy over all ; the 
same clouds come freighted with the waters of summer, 
and distil their precious drops for all ; but Oh ! how 
unlike is the scene that lies beneath ! Underneath the 
surface God marks in one a heart of gratitude and pen- 
itence ; and in another a soul tainted with selfishness 
and mad upon its lusts and its idols. Of course the 
one must go up, up, rising in the perfection of its holy 
character; — and the other down, down, sinking under 
the depraving influence of its own headstrong appetites 
and its will, opposed to God and goodness. 

And where will be the end of these courses? You 
know, full well. You have no need to know better 
than you do. 

The fatal thing with you, O sinner, is that you don't 
make up your mind to do known duty ! I thought I 
should, you say, but I did not. I half resolve, but fail 
to do it. Scores of precious opportunities you have let 
slip, and each one left you only the more hardened. 
One opportunity came and waited on you — you were 
not read}^ to embrace it, and it passed away; — another 
came and tarried — then rose up and went its way; — 
and yet another and another; — and what shall be the 
end of these things ? Satan loves to beguile you; and 
he it is who is playing this game with you, seducing 
you to delay till each and every opportunity shall have 
gone past, hopelessly and forever. Will you let him 
ruin your soul? You see his hand, winding his fatal 
chain about your neck; — Oh, how long can you be 
quiet under this operation! How long will you con- 



FOR EVIL TO THE SINNER. 253 

sent to be led captive by Satan at his will, when you 
know his object is to plunge your soul quick into the 
depths of hell ! 



XIV. 



GOD HAS NO PLEASURE IN THE SINNER'S 

DEATH. 



" Say unto them, As I live, snith the Lord God, I have no pleasure 
in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way 
and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, 
O house of Israel?" — Ezekiel xxxiii. n. 

IN discussing these words it will be important to 
consider, 

I. What the death spoken of is not ; 

II. What it is ; 

III. Why God has no pleasure in it ; 

IV. Why He does not preyent it ; 

V. The only possible way to escape it. 

/. Manifestly this death cannot be merely the death 
of the body; for all will die this death, whether they 
turn to God or not, and whether they live a spiritual 
life or not. The righteous are as really and as much 
exposed to natural death as the wicked. But the 
death spoken of in the text is one which may be es- 
caped by turning from one's wicked ways to obedience. 

The death spoken of cannot be spiritual, or a 
state of sinfulness; for God represents them as being 
already in this state. They are now in sinful ways 
from which He entreats them to turn. But the death 



XO PLEASURE IN THE SINNER'S DEATH. 255 

spoken of is prospective. God does not ask, Why 
are ye dead ? but, Why will ye die ? 

II. Positively, the death spoken of must be the 
opposite of the life here referred to. This life cannot 
be natural life; for all, both saint and sinner, are con- 
ceived of as being alike in natural life. Of course, 
the life must be salvation — eternal life — that blessed- 
ness which saints enjoy in the favor and love of God, 
begun here, prolonged forever hereafter. Now, if such 
be the life alluded to, the death, being in contrast with 
it, must be eternal death; the misery experienced 
by all God's enemies. As the life referred to here is 
not a mere state of existence, but a state of positive 
blessedness; so the death placed over against it cannot 
be annihilation, — the natural opposite of mere exist- 
ence, — but must be misery, — the natural opposite of 
blessedness. 

These remarks must suffice on this point, it being 
one on which no rational doubt can exist. 

III. Why has God no pleasure in the sinner s death? 
A few days since, you may recollect, I preached a fu- 
neral sermon, to show that the death of saints is pre- 
cious in God's sight. Their death is to Him an event 
of deep interest. But the sinner's death is not so. 
Here is death in which God has no pleasure. He 
gives us his own solemn word, nay more, his oath, that 
He takes no pleasure at all in the death of the wicked. 
We are now to consider why. 

1. The death of saints in which God takes a 
special interest is only the death of the body; but the 
death of the wicked is the death of both soul and 



2^6 GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

body together. Both together are involved in misery 
and ruin. By this I do not mean that either is anni- 
hilated. The body, we know, is not annihilated at 
death: its constituent elements only change their 
chemical relations; but do not by any means cease to 
exist. There is no more reason to suppose the soul 
experiences annihilation, than that the body does. In- 
deed, there is no reason whatever for supposing that 
annihilation ever can be the lot of either soul or body. 
I was amazed to hear some of the Adventists main- 
tain that the threatened death of the wicked is noth- 
ing but annihilation, for nothing could be more obvi- 
ous than that this position of theirs utterly lacked all 
foundation either in Scripture or reason. 

2. God has no pleasure in the sinner's death, 
because Fie is a moral being, and it is contrary to 
the nature of moral beings to delight in suffering for 
its own sake. To all moral beings happiness is in- 
trinsically good, and unhappiness is intrinsically evil, 
and must be from the very constitution of moral 
beings. Hence unhappiness can never be a source 
of pleasure, in itself considered. The view of it as 
endured by others cannot be deemed a good by 
any moral being, for its own sake, and considered 
simply as misery, for the reason that it is what it is, — 
misery and not happiness, — the very constitution of a 
moral being demanding that happiness shall be held as 
the only good, and misery as intrinsically evil. Even 
Satan, with all his malignity against God, can never en- 
joy the sight any more than the endurance of misery, 
for its oi'jji sake. How much more must this be true 



IN THE SINNER'S DEATH. 2$ J 

of God! Selfishness may wickedly trample down the 
rights and happiness of others ; but, yet, good to it- 
self, and not misery to others, is its direct object. The 
consequent misery to others will in its time react upon 
selfish beings with terrible vengeance, harrowing up their 
souls with the bitterest torture. It is in the very na- 
ture of selfishness and sin to accumulate the resources 
for its own torment, just as benevolence accumulates 
the means of its own blessedness; and the reason in 
both cases lies fixed in the changeless nature of moral 
beings. The selfish cannot enjoy evil-doing, let them 
try ever so much, for it is not in their nature as moral 
beings to enjoy misery. If it were, they might make 
a heaven of hell itself. But, as it is, their selfish at- 
tempts to wrest away other's good will cause misery 
first to others, and next, ultimately and eternally, to 
themselves. Sin must be its own tormenter. Neither 
the sight nor the infliction of misery can ever in itself 
beget happiness. The nature of all moral beings for- 
bids it. 

3. God cannot have pleasure in the sinner's death, 
because his character forbids it. God is not only by 
nature a moral agent, but He is in character a good 
moral ag"ent — a bein^ of infinite benevolence. Hence 
He cannot delight in misery anywhere, for its own 
sake, and in view of its own nature. The sight of 
misery endured is always distressing to a benevolent 
being, in itself considered. He can acquiesce in it and 
tolerate its afflictions only when circumstances make it 
necessary as a means for a greater good. In such a 



258 GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

case, He might truly say, I have no pleasure in their 
suffering. 

So with God in regard to the sinner's death. Since 
He is purely and perfectly benevolent, it is contrary to 
his character that He should find pleasure in the mis- 
ery of his creatures. Love desires evermore the hap- 
piness of all beings, and is from its very nature dis- 
posed to secure the highest possible degree of it. 
God pities the self-ruined sinner; never rejoices in his 
dreadful doom, for its own sake. 

4. It must be that God regards the death of the 
sinner, viewed in itself, as a great evil. In its own 
nature it is an evil of the very greatest magnitude. 
No finite mind can begin to conceive how great and 
dreadful this evil is. It needs the sweep of an infinite 
mind to measure its length and breadth, its depth and its 
height. None other than the mind of a God can grasp 
its limitless dimensions, or measure its boundless mag- 
nitude. To his mind, therefore, the death of the sin- 
ner must appear an immensely great evil. 

5. God can have no pleasure in the death of sin- 
ners, because it is a state in which He can wisely show 
them no more< favor. Their relations to his govern- 
ment become such that He is constrained to debar 
them from all mercy and from all good. Unmingled 
retribution must now take its course. Mercy has had 
its day; simple justice must henceforth have unimpe- 
ded exercise. So long as the wicked were in this world 
of probation, God took pleasure in showing them all 
the favors He wisely could, for it is always in his heart 
to bless the guiltiest as far as He consistently can; and 



IN THE SINNER S DEATH. 259 

He seeks to constrain the sinner by his mercies to turn 
from his sins. But when the sinner has murdered all 
his probation-time and used up all his mercies upon 
his lusts, he passes away to another state unknown to 
Mercy. There he can have not one drop of water to 
cool his tongue. There his prayers to Father Abra- 
ham will be utterly unavailing. On all these points, 
the account given us by Jesus Christ Himself of the 
rich man and Lazarus is most full and explicit. What- 
ever else this account teaches or does not teach, one 
thing is made plain by it; namely, that God finds it 
necessary to refuse the least favor to sinners in hell. 
" Thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things" — 
thou hast had them all, and there are no more to be 
given. Not so much as one drop of water is left for 
the lost sinner in hell. He begs for this smallest favor, 
but begs in vain. How dreadful this fact! The lost 
sinner is in such relations to God that God is com- 
pelled to restrain Himself from giving him one drop of 
water. Even infinite benevolence cannot give so small 
a favor as this. 

Now it is plain that a God of love can have no 
pleasure in being brought into such a position as this. 
He took the greatest pleasure in bestowing good upon 
even the sinner, so long as He wisely could. It was 
his happiness to send his rain on the just and on the 
unjust; but when the dreaded hour at last came, and 
God, as the great executive magistrate of the universe, 
was compelled to cut down the guilty sinner and show 
his own eternal abhorrence of sin, then He could no 
longer show the sinner the least mercy. This remov- 



260 GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

ing the sinner beyond the range of mercy is a thing in 
which, considered by itself, God can have no pleasure. 
The same is true of all benevolent beings. 

It is remarkable to see how earnestly God repels the 
slander upon Him of taking pleasure in the sinner's 
death. The Jews in Ezekiel's time went so far as to 
use the proverb, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, 
and the"children's teeth are set on edge." The Most 
High solemnly rebukes his people for this slander; 
protests his own innocence of the implied charge, and 
finally closes with the explicit averment, " For I have 
no pleasure in the death of him that dieth; wherefore 
turn yourselves, and live ye." (Ezek. xviii. 2, 32.) So 
also, in our text, He takes his solemn oath, and, since 
He could swear by no greater, He swears by Himself. 
"As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in 
the death of the wicked." Therefore let no sinner seek 
to throw the blame of his own ruin off from himself and 
upon his Maker. No slander could be more groundless 
or more foul. 

6. Another reason still is that when sinners have 
outlived their probation and are cut off in their sins, 
their depravity will be thenceforward unrestrained. 
How shocking it must be to the pure and holy God to 
see his creatures giving themselves up to utter and un- 
restrained depravity — to see them giving boundless 
scope to the most odious and horrible rebellion ! The 
book of Revelation speaks of the wicked, under God's 
punitive judgments, as "gnawing their tongues for pain, 
and blaspheming the God of heaven because of their 
pains and of their sores, and yet repenting not of their 



IN THE SINNER'S DEATH. 26 1 

deeds." Their condition amid the dread realities of 
hell will not reform them; nay, so far from this, it will 
only drive them to desperation, and in the utter des- 
perateness of their depraved hearts, they will break out 
in most horrid blasphemies. Oh how will sinners 
damn themselves to a deeper and still deeper damna- 
tion! What an unutterable state of depravity will 
hell be when sin takes its ample, unimpeded course, 
and has a whole eternity in which to range and ripen, 
and develop its horrid spirit and terrible tendencies! 
Xo wonder that God can take no pleasure in such a 
world as that. 

In that world the sufferings of the wicked will be 
unmitigated. Here, although their depravity is great, 
nay, even total, yet so many restraints are upon them 
that many of them appear quite respectably among 
their fellow-beings. They are induced to conform out- 
wardly to the rules of good society. Consequently in 
this world they enjoy many comforts, and ordinarily 
they have an ample supply for their physical wants. 
The common pleasures of society, of earthly friend- 
ships and relationships, fall to their lot. Consequently 
they are by no means so miserable as they might be. 
Indeed, they are often wont to think themselves quite 
happy. And they do doubtless have a sort of feverish 
enjoyment, poor enough at best, as the portion of the 
human soul, yet vastl}' unlike that dreadful state in 
which every source of enjoyment shall be utterly cut 
off. There shall be gnawing desire, but no gratifica- 
tion; pressing want, but no supply; no employment 
but groans, and sighs, and such developments of their 



262 GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

depravity as bring their own torturing punishment with 
them. If the Bible had said nothing about their case, 
we might yet know that they must be purely and ut- 
terly miserable; for what source of happiness can re- 
main to them in all the realms of nature, or in all the 
universe of God? Here they manage to get some good 
because God is sparing them to give them space to re- 
pent, and is trying them, if so be He may subdue their 
hearts by his love; but when they have abused all this 
good till God can bestow it no longer, what shall re- 
main then? When death shall have smitten their last 
pleasure, where are they? 

IV. But it is time that we should ask, Why does not 
God prevent the death of the wicked,? If He takes no 
pleasure in it, why should He suffer it to be? 

i. You are aware that men have often inferred from 
God's benevolence that He will not suffer the wicked 
to be lost. But who has any right to infer this ? How 
does it appear that benevolence cannot inflict a lesser 
evil for the sake of preventing a greater? Who can 
prove it unwise for God to create beings and suffer 
them to continue their existence, although they may 
sin — yes, may sin, despite of any power which God can 
wisely use to prevent it? That is, — for the question 
resolves itself into this, — Who can prove that, on the 
whole, more evil than good must result from the exist- 
ence of a sinning race of moral agents ? Who can 
show that it may not be indefinitely better to have 
such a race with all the attendant results than not to 
have created them, or having created them to establish 



IN THE SINNER'S DEATH. 263 

a government so different from the present as would 
have prevented it? 

But if a God of infinite wisdom and love might give 
existence to a race who could and should sin, then 
surely it is no marvel that He should punish them. 
Indeed, the only marvel is that He should ever do 
otherwise than punish — should ever pardon. Pardon, 
not punishment, is the strange thing. Revelation 
apart, who could ever infer rationally that God would 
pardon one sinner? From what data could man infer 
it? The wisest sinners that have ever lived have made 
the inference that God could save none. They have 
seen that God is a moral governor, and hence cannot be 
pleased with sinners. Hence they inferred, and most 
reasonably too, that He can save none. How could 
they have made any other rational inference without 
the aid of revelation ? 

2. God does not prevent the death of the wicked, 
for the good reason that He cannot wisely do it. Some 
are shocked at this remark; but why should they be? 
for what God Himself says on this subject most surely 
implies that He cannot wisely prevent the sinner's 
death. He solemnly avers that Fie has no pleasure in 
it, and plainly implies that it is in itself an unpleasant 
and undesirable thing. If so, then He would prevent 
it if He wisely could. He says to sinners, " Turn ye, 
for why will ye die ? " implying that He is grieved that 
they should die, and also that their own turning is the 
only means of preventing so dreadful a doom. No 
language could imply more plainly that He cannot and 



264 GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

will not do Himself what He commands and exhorts 
them to do. 

To the same purport He says again, " What could I 
have done more to my vineyard that I have not done 
in it ? " Does not this forcibly imply that God could 
not do more to secure holiness and save from hell than 
He actually had done ? Now it should be well con- 
sidered that what God could not do wisely to save 
sinners, He could not do at all without sinning. There 
is no middle course between acting wisely and sinning. 
For God to act otherwise than with wisdom must be 
wrong. 

3. God could not have prevented their destruction 
by refusing to create them. Many ask, Why did God 
create men if He knew they would sin ? The answer 
is. He could not forbear to create without Himself sin- 
ning. He saw it would be wise to create moral agents 
who would sin, and some of whom would be lost; and 
how could He act other than wisely without forever 
condemning Himself for wrong-doing? If God has ever 
in any instance acted unwisely, it has not been in his 
case, as sometimes in ours, through ignorance. No; 
there never can be in his case this vindication for acting 
unwisely. If God in any case does more or less than 
infinite wisdom dictates, He cannot but know it, and 
cannot but regard it as sin. 

Now, therefore, if wisdom dictated the creation of 
the beings who would become wicked, God could not 
forbear to create, without personal sin; nay, could not 
forbear, without absolute self-ruin! Do we think it a 
small matter that God should sin ? Then we have not 



IN THE SINNER'S DEATH. 265 

yet begun to take right views of the subject. For 
God to sin would be to lose his own self-respect — de- 
stroy his own peace and blessedness — unfit Himself 
either to enjoy his own character and works, or to gov- 
ern his universe. 

4. God could not wisely have done more than He 
has done for the sinner's salvation. He has all along 
done all that infinite wisdom has demanded. To 
have done more or other at any moment would have 
been sin. And who does not see that it must be a far 
less evil for God to suffer moral agents to sin than to 
take Himself any course which is sinful? If either 
God or his creatures must be ruined by sin, let it be 
the sinner, and not God. It is infinitely better that 
God should suffer the sinner to ruin himself than suffer 
Himself to be ruined. By so much the more is this 
true because the ruin of God by his own sinning 
would inevitably involve the ruin of the whole universe, 
— a calamity the magnitude of which defies all our 
comprehension. 

We should never lose sight of the great truth that 
God always acts considerately and wisely. If He cre- 
ates moral agents who become sinners, He does it 
wisely, following evermore the dictates of his intelli- 
gence and of his benevolence. It is plain that God 
could not wisely abridge the liberty of moral agents, 
nor indeed could He save them, even if He should, 
for the very idea of the salvation of a moral agent 
implies his own voluntary turning from sin. None but 
moral agents can have salvation from sin and from hell ; 

the existence of moral beings involves a moral govern- 
12 



266 GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

ment over them, and over them as moral beings, which 
is the same thing as to say, that they must have the 
liberty of free voluntary action. If, therefore, God 
would have a moral government, Fie must let it have 
scope, and meet the results, be they what they may. 
I do not mean that He must preclude Himself from 
throwing in moral influences to affect their action; but 
I do mean that their liberty of moral action must not 
be abridged. His interposing influences must ever- 
more be of a moral, and not of a physical or compul- 
sory nature. 

I have said that God acts wisely, and cannot act 
otherwise. I mean this in its fullest extent. It is al- 
ways true. At every hour and moment of each sin- 
ner's existence God could truly say, What could I have 
done more for thee that I have not done? The sinner 
may misapprehend the case, and may suppose that 
God might do, or might have done more; but God 
makes no mistakes; — God never misapprehends the 
real facts of the case. 

5. God cannot save men without their concurrence; 
in the nature of the case, they could not be holy with- 
out their own concurrence; how, then, could they be 
happy without it? Being constituted moral agents, 
and made subjects of moral government, it must be in 
every point of view impossible to save them unless 
they will turn from their sins. God's government 
must remain moral, and hence He can do nothing in- 
consistent with its moral nature. If, then, God works 
upon the sinner by means of his providence and his 
Spirit, to the utmost extent He wisely can, and all in 



IN THE SINNER'S DEATH. 267 

vain, there remains nothing more which, as a moral 
governor, He can do to save him. 

6. Another reason why God does not prevent the 
death of the wicked is that He regards it as a less evil 
than to interpose in • any way possible to Himself, to 
save them. If they would turn under such influences 
as He can wisely use, He would rejoice; but He is 
already going to the utmost limit of his discretion, 
and how can He go farther? Sooner than go farther, 
He would let ten thousand worlds go to ruin. Who 
can find fault with Him for this? Who can blame the 
all-wise God for following the dictates of his own wis- 
dom ? If He should in any single particular deviate 
from his own sense of propriety and from his own 
judgment of what is best for the universe, how dread- 
ful the consequences ! Perhaps we are not wont to 
consider that there are bounds beyond which God can- 
not go, and beyond which He never does go. These 
bounds are always ascertained by Infinite Wisdom. 
They have their foundation in the nature of moral 
agents, and in the exigencies of God's vast govern- 
ment. Who but God Himself can decide how long 
He can safely bear with a lingering, self-hardening sin- 
ner? and how far He can wisely go in the strivings of 
his Spirit, and in the favoring arrangements of his 
providence? 

This view of the case is not only in accordance with 
the Bible, but it is inferred irresistibly from the known 
attributes of God. Some of you may ask, How does 
it appear that God does as much as He can for the 
good of each sinner? I answer, We all know that 



268 GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

God is a good and not a wicked being. He is more- 
over a moral agent, possessing attributes of mind and 
heart of which our own are a copy, for we were made 
in the image of God. Of course when we speak of 
God as a good being, we may, nay, we must, reason by 
analogy drawn from other good beings. If we are 
good men, we shall of course seek to prevent all possi- 
ble evil and produce all possible good. This is neces- 
sarily implied in our being good men. 

Now what is implied in God's being good? That 
He consecrates Himself to the good of being. Good- 
ness in God implies that He is all awake to prevent all 
mischief He wisely can, and secure all the good He 
wisely can. We' know intuitively that if He is amoral 
agent as we are; if He has a conscience as we have; 
if He has moreover a good heart, He will evermore do 
all He wisely can both to prevent evil and produce 
good. 

7. Yet another reason is that, although the evil of 
the sinner's death is great, yet He can make a good 
use of it. He can overrule it for important good to 
others and to various interests in his kingdom. The 
sufferings of the wicked may be in themselves a very 
great evil; yet God can bring those sufferings into 
such relations to his government, and can make them 
so useful in their influence on other beings, that the 
good results become in his mind a sort of compen- 
sation for the evil, so that, on the whole, He may 
see it wise to admit sin with all its results, rather than 
exclude it by any means possible to Himself. 

V. We may now see that the only possible way in 



IN THE SINNER'S DEATH. 269 

which the sinner s death can be avoided, is for the sin- 
ner himself to turn from his evil ways and live. The 
sinner need not look for God to change the policy of 
his government. He need not expect God to pardon 
sin without the sinner's repentance and the sinner's 
faith in Christ. He need not wait for some other 
name than that of Jesus given among men, whereby 
they may be saved, or for any other mode in which 
the sinner may avail himself of that name. God's 
government being what it is, repentance and faith in 
Jesus Christ are natural and necessary means of the 
sinner's salvation. He might as well ask Jehovah to 
come down from his throne, as ask Him to do any- 
thing more or anything different from what He is do- 
ing to save sinners. The sinner, therefore, who would 
be saved, must meet Jehovah's own revealed condi- 
tions. 

REMARKS. 

I. The goodness of God is really no encouragement 
to those who continue in sin. Hear the rebuke given 
by the Psalmist, " Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, 
O mighty man ? The goodness of God endureth con- 
tinually." Why should you be proud of mischief? 
Know thou that God is good; and a good God is 
terrible to the wicked. 

I am often amazed to hear persons talk as if the 
goodness of God afforded some security to those who 
live in sin. Some of you may be resting on this as- 
sumption. But how is this? If the goodness of God 
has hitherto prevented his using such means as have 
actually saved you from sin, how can you know but it 



2JO GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

may likewise prevent his saving you from hell ? God 
has been good all along ; but you are yet in sin. If 
his goodness has not stopped your sinning, how can 
you hope it will prevent your suffering ? If his good- 
ness has not availed to secure your conversion under the 
most favorable circumstances which even infinite love 
could arrange, how can you hope it will save you with- 
out your being converted ? How can you venture on 
the assumption that God will recede from his ground, 
and since vou will not come to his terms, He will come 
to yours ? Suppose you that goodness and wisdom 
will ever do this ? 

•It may be that you have not duly estimated the fact 
that God is immutable — always good, and always hav- 
ing the same sort of goodness. If then his goodness 
has not prevented your sinning, and your suffering too, 
in this world; if all the efforts which goodness has be,en 
continually putting forth have hitherto failed, how can 
you infer that the same goodness may not fail hereafter ? 
Especially when He assures you that now is the 
accepted time, and now his day of salvation ? If his 
goodness cannot arrest you in your course of sin, in 
the most favoring hour, how can you hope it will arrest 
you from going straight down to hell ? What can you 
find either in the Bible or out of the Bible to warrant 
such an inference as that of your salvation from the 
goodness of God ? 

One thing you may certainly know to be fact. God 
has been always as good as He is now, or as He ever 
will be. Yet He has created this world ; it has fallen 
into sin; He has visited it with many and sore judg- 



IN THE SINNERS DEATH. 27 1 

ments and much suffering for its sins; has declared that 
He will send every sinner to hell who will not turn from 
his evil ways, and has done all He wisely could to make 
you believe it. And now, can you rationally infer from 
God's goodness, that you, as a sinner, have no hell to 
fear? Ah, no, sinner, NO. You are moving on fast 
through the only period of your existence in which sal- 
vation is possible; you cannot arrest your progress 
towards the grave; you can never change the course of 
God's government towards sinners. God is too good 
to suffer any sinner to triumph over justice, or to sub- 
vert his own throne. 

2. The goodness of God is not the security of the 
impenitent sinner's salvation, but the guarantee of his 
damnation. Sinners know this. They are not afraid 
of God because they think Him wicked, but because 
they think Him good, and dread the consequences of 
his goodness. What sinner ever feared injustice from 
God ? Not one. Their fear is that God will deal with 
them as they deserve. Not without reason is it that 
they fear his goodness and his justice. These are the 
very qualities in his character which they have to fear; 
just as they fear good men and the best men most, not 
because they are bad men, but because they are good 
men. 

3. The death of the wicked is not inconsistent with 
God's happiness. I have heard persons say that they 
never could be happy even in heaven, if they knew that 
any of their own friends or relatives were in hell ; and 
they seem to wonder how God can be happy while He 
knows that sinners are in hell. The reason why God 



272 GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

will not be unhappy is that He will have the eternal 
consciousness of having Himself done right, and of not 
being in any sense or degree to blame for the death of 
the wicked. When the smoke of their torments shall 
go up forever and ever, his consciousness will forever 
affirm, No blood of theirs is on my raiment. With this 
consciousness God need not be unhappy in the sinner's 
eternal death. 

4. God will have the eternal consciousness of having 
laid Himself out to the utmost to save sinners. He 
knows that He has gone to the very verge of propriety, 
— just as far as He wisely could, — at every successive 
step in their course through a life of sin to their eter- 
nal death. What a satisfaction that must be, to such a 
mind as his, to be able to say, "What could I have 
done more to my. vineyard that I have not done" in it? 
It is no fault of mine that, when I looked for it to bring 
forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes, fit only for 
burning. 

In this view of the case it is easy to see that God 
will be content with having done the best thing He 
could do. Conscious of this, He will be satisfied, and 
will have no occasion to wish that He had been more 
than infinite, or to regret in any respect that He has 
not done more or better than He has. 

He will be well satisfied, on the whole, with all the 
results of all He has done. He will indeed see that the 
misery of the wicked is, as viewed in itself, a great and 
almost infinite evil ; but when all the results are con- 
sidered, He will be satisfied. For, it should be con- 
sidered, God had foreseen all these results. They do 



IN THE SINNER'S DEATH. 273 

not break upon Him by surprise. He did not com- 
mence a plan with which He should be, in its develop- 
ment, dissatisfied. He foresaw all the evils incidental 
to his plan — all the sin, and all the suffering consequent 
upon sinning. In full view of all, He asked Himself, 
Shall I be satisfied with these results ? He did not go 
forward without making up his mind that this course 
was, on the whole, altogether wise and good. Hence 
the evils which are to be developed in the sinner's 
death are not new to Him. They do not break forth 
suddenly upon Him, so as to embarrass his movements 
and turn Him aside from his course. By no means. 
Right onward move his eternal counsels, as certain as 
his own existence. What infinite wisdom has de- 
vised, infinite power will execute. God never can lack 
the necessary firmness to do the very best thing in the 
best way. 

These results, therefore, do not interfere at all with 
the happiness of God. The death of the sinner may be 
in itself a very great evil, and yet God sees that, on the 
whole, taking all results into view, He has the best of 
reasons to be satisfied with his own plan, and with all 
that He has Himself done in its execution. He will 
be satisfied with the results as a whole, although there 
may be things connected with it which are in them- 
selves to be regretted. 

5. Again, the death of the wicked will not be incon- 
sistent with the happiness of heaven. Persons have 
often said, that they could not be happy in heaven if 
they knew the wicked were in hell. Some of you may 
12* 



274 GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

have thought so ; but why? Are you a great deal better 
than God ? Are you more benevolent or more Avise 
than God is ? Suppose you stand on the shore and 
you see a ship in the offing beating hard against a 
dreadful storm, and laden with precious human lives. 
You see their signals of distress ; ah, you can even 
hear their shrieks and cries for help, and in your in- 
most soul you feel that you would save them all if you 
could. No doubt you would. God has the power to 
do it, but yet He lets that noble ship strike the break- 
ers! You would have saved them; — but are you there- 
fore better than God ? No; the reason why your course 
differs from God's course in the matter is, that you are 
not so good and not so wise as He. If you were as 
benevolent as He, you would act as He does. 

But with your short vision of results, it would fill you 
with great anguish to see a ship's crew and passengers 
all dash upon the dreadful rocks and go to the bottom. 
Yet God can look calmly on, and trace the whole 
course of the dreadful calamity, satisfied that all shall 
be well in the end. 

When saints reach heaven they will have more confi- 
dence in God than many people have now. They will 
see more than they do now, and will have indefinitely 
more confidence in the wisdom of what they cannot see. 
It will then appear plain to them that they have the 
same reason for being happy in all the results of moral 
government that God has. They will begin to see 
these results as they have never done before. With 
enlarged views they will see most clearly that God has 
done right, perfectly and infinitely right. Oh, how 



IN THE SINNER'S DEATH. 275 

their minds will be eternally solemnized by a view of 
hell! What a spectacle! What could make more sol- 
emn impressions of the fearfulness of sin, and of the 
firmness that prevails forever in the counsels of Jeho- 
vah ! I have sometimes been greatly edified by seeing 
how Christians have borne the loss of friends dying in 
their sins. For a long time I could not understand this, 
and was greatly stumbled to conceive how Christians 
could be reconciled to such a trial. Is it stupidity, 
said I to myself, or is it unbelief? Subsequent reflec- 
tion, however, and observation, showed that it was nei- 
ther. I saw how they might be happy in God, confid- 
ing in his wisdom and love. I no more suppose that 
heaven will be unhappy because of their vision of hell, 
than I suppose a virtuous community would be in see- 
ing a man punished who was bent upon their ruin. 
Suppose there were in this community a man full of all 
mischief, a child of the devil, reckless of law and right, 
perilling and even taking life, whenever excited passion 
maddened him to the deed ; suppose this man seized, 
convicted, and shut up in state's prison, or even sup- 
pose him to be hung : you see it, and you say, This is 
in itself a great evil, but, in view of all the results, you 
would say, Amen. Better that the guilty wretch should 
suffer as he deserves, than that society should be 
broken up, other lives be destroyed, and an evil vastly 
greater than one man's death be done. 

Now if in this world you may be brought to acqui- 
esce in condign punishment brought upon the guilty, 
how much more so in the future world ! There we 
shall see that their case is hopeless ; that nothing more 



276 GOD HAS NO PLEASURE 

could be done wisely to save them; that they forced 
their way down to hell in full view of Calvary, despite 
of the tenderest entreaties and the most affecting in- 
vitations ; then we shall see that nothing remained but 
for God to shut them up in the state's prison of the 
universe ! 

Persons sometimes say, Oh ! if my relatives, my hus- 
band, or my children must go to hell, I never can be 
reconciled with God's doings, never, NEVER ! I never 
can be happy in heaven myself and see them in hell ! 
What ! Do you say to God, You may send anybody 
else's children to hell if you please, but spare mine? 
All this will have passed away if you ever reach heaven. 
There God's friends are my friends, and God's enemies 
are my enemies. I have only one question to ask 
there, Is he a friend of God, or is he an enemy ? All 
these distinctions about self and self's friends, or self's 
children, will then have vanished forever away. Does 
that pious mother think now that she could not be 
happy to see her own son sent to hell ? Once in heaven, 
or even once fitted for heaven, your soul will rest calmly 
in God, sinking down sweetly into his will, and rejoic- 
ing that He never does, and never can do, otherwise 
than right. 

6. But we must revert to the exhortation in our 
text. God says to each sinner, " Turn ye, turn ye, for why 
will ye die?" Many sinners in this house have con- 
tinued long in sin, expecting God to do something 
more than He has yet done, and indeed enough to save 
them ; — but will He ? Do you. know that He will ? 
How do you know that He will ? All this time, while 



IN THE SINNER S DEATH. 2JJ 

you have been waiting for Him, He has been waiting 
•for you. He has come to you by all his servants, rising 
up early and sending them, saying, " Turn ye, turn ye 
from your evil ways ; for why will ye die !" This, you 
will observe, assumes that you are bent on your own 
death, and that you act as if you thought yourselves to 
have good reasons for choosing death. Your God asks 
to know what those reasons are. He tells you most 
solemnly that you need not die because He wants to have 
you, or because He has any pleasure at all in your death ; 
nor because any one else — unless it be Satan — Wants 
to have you die. No ; if you have reasons they must 
be your own, and God asks you what they are. Now 
go home and ask yourself what they are. Press home 
to your own heart this question, — put to you by your 
Maker r — Why will ye die? Take your pen arid write 
the reasons down, for you may have occasion enough 
to review them' in the coming years and ages of your 
existence. Then write them down. I should like to 
know what they are, and it might be of use to yourself 
to study them more attentively than you have been 
wont to do. You will do well to write them all out 
fully, so that your own mind can measure them, and 
weigh them, and estimate soberly their real value. 
Won't you do this ? Do it seriously, in the stillness and 
solitude of your own chamber ; write them all down ; 
get upon your knees and spread them out before God. 
Say, Lord, Thou hast put this question to me, " Why 
wilt thou die?" Here is the answer. Lord, it is 
because Thou hast no mercy on sinners. It is because 



278 NO PLEASURE IN THE SINNER'S DEATH. 

Thou hast done nothing to save me. Because I can't 
help going on in my sins. Because I can't repent and 
can't believe. 

But stop, sinner, read this over again before God- 
Is there a word of truth in all you have written ? Will 
it stand the test of even your own conscience ? Will 
it bear to come before your Maker? Can it be of any 
use to you to "deny the Lord that bought you," and 
" make God a liar" to his very face — in contempt of 
liis own solemn oath ? 



XV. 
THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 



"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine 
linen, and fared sumptuously every day : and there was a certain beggar 
named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring 
to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table : more- 
over, the dogs came and licked his sores. 

"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the 
angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was bur- 
ied : and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth 
Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and said, 
Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may 
dip the tip of his ringer in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tor- 
mented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in 
thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil 
things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And be- 
sides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed ; so that 
they which would pass from hence to you, cannot; neither can they 
pass to us, that would come from thence. 

"Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest 
send him to my father's house : for I have five brethren ; that he may 
testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them 
hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto 
them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they 
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, 
though one rose from the dead." — Luke xvi. 19-31. 

A PARABLE is a little anecdote or a case of sup- 
posed history, designed to illustrate some truth. 
A simple and striking mode of illustration — it makes 



28o THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 

no attempt at reasoning ; indeed, it takes the place of 
all reasoning by at once revealing truth to the mind. 
In general, parables assume certain truths— a thing which 
they have an ample right to do, for some truths need 
no proof, and in other cases a teacher may speak from 
his perfect knowledge, and in such a case, there can be 
no reason for demanding that he stop to prove all he 
asserts. 

In the case of parables it is often interesting to 
notice what truths they do assume. This is especially 
true of the parables of Christ ; for none were ever more 
rich by virtue both of the truths directly taught and 
also by virtue of the truths they assume. I may also 
remark here that truths are taught in Christ's parables 
both directly and incidentally. Some one great truth 
is the leading object of the illustration, yet other truths 
of the highest importance may be taught incidentally, 
not being embraced in his direct design. 

The passage which I have read to you this morning, 
is probably a parable, though not distinctly affirmed to 
be so. The nature of the case seems to show this; 
although these very circumstances might have all 
actually occurred in fact and in the same order as here 
related. 

In discussing the passage, I propose, 

I. TO NOTICE SOME TRUTHS THAT ARE ASSUMED 
IN IT; 

II. TO PRESENT SOME THAT ARE INTENTIONALLY 
TAUGHT. 

I. i. Christ assumes in this passage the direct 
opposite of annihilation. He assumes that men are 



THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 28 I 

not annihilated at death, nor indeed ever. For He 
speaks of things that take place immediately after 
death. The men who lived on earth live beyond death, 
and receive according" to the things they have done 
here in the body. It was no part of his direct object 
to affirm this doctrine ; yet his statements imply it. 
Being Himself the Great Teacher, it is not without 
reason that He should assume the fundamental truths 
that pertain to man's future existence under God's 
moral government. 

2. He assumes that the state into which both good 
and bad men pass at death is one of real and intense 
consciotisness. This of course denies the assumption 
that this state is an unconscious one. You are aware 
that some who do not hold to annihilation, yet hold 
to unconsciousness in the intermediate state between 
death and the resurrection. This doctrine, whether 
applied to saints or sinners, is entirely set aside by our 
Saviour's teachings in this narrative. 

3. He assumes that the righteous and the wicked 
recognize each other after death. The rich man knew 
both Abraham and Lazarus. Abraham knew him. 
They all respectively knew each other. The state- 
ments represent the colloquy to have been held between 
the rich man and Abraham. Abraham, though long 
since in heaven, knew both this rich man and Lazarus. 
It was not our Lord's design directly to affirm this, 
yet He obviously implies it. 

4. It is also assumed that they are acquainted with 
each other's state and history. All these matters were 
entirely familiar to their minds. 



2 82 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 

5. It is fully assumed that at death the righteous 
go immediately to a state of bliss and the wicked to a 
place of torment. This lies out undeniably on the 
face of the passage. 

II. I am next to notice some of the truths distinctly 
and directly taught in this passage. 

1. That at death angels conduct the righteous to 
their place of blessedness. It is expressly said of 
Lazarus that he was carried by angels into Abraham's 
bosom. Dogs were his companions here up to his 
death ; angels immediately thereafter. When the dogs 
could minister to his wants no longer, angels stepped 
in and took his case in charge. They bore him away 
to the home of the blessed. 

We may infer that this is the common employment 
of angels. Paul in Hebrews i. 12 strengthens this 
position, in his question, "Are they not all ministering 
spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be 
heirs of salvation ? " 

2. Saints after death are sensible of no want. 
They have nothing left to desire. They are sensible 
of wanting nothing that can be needful to their highest 
happiness. In this life they may have had their cup 
filled with bitterest grief; but at death, this cup is 
removed forever away, and quite another cup is placed 
to their lips — forever. Lazarus had his evil things in 
this world : poverty, pain, sores, and want were his 
portion here ; but, after death, he knew these things no 
more at all. They passed away forever. 

3. On the other hand, sinners after death are full 
of want, and have no good at all. The rich man asked 



THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 283 

for only the very smallest favor. He had fared sumpt- 
uously every day ; but now he is reduced so loiu, he 
can only beg for one drop of water to cool his tongue. 
He asks for only so much as might adhere to the tip 
of one's finger when taken from the water. You have 
seen persons lie under a burning fever — prostrate, 
parched, can't say a word, can only beckon for water 
— water — one drop to cool their burning tongue. See 
the man dying ; — he tries to move a little, towards the 
water; ah, he fails; he sinks back in his bed for the last 
time, and the burning fever has used up all his strength. 
You who have suffered from fever know what this 
means — to have a consuming fire shut up within you. 
Here mark. The Great Teacher makes the rich man 
cry out, "Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his 
finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented 
in this flame." Why did he not ask for an ocean of 
water, or a pail-full at least, or a pitcher-full ? why 
restrict himself to the least drop? Plainly he knew 
himself to be placed beyond all good. He knew this 
was the utmost he could ask, and even this is denied 
him ! What could our Lord have designed but to 
teach this? How irresistibly is this taught and with 
what overpowering force ! What remarkable facts are 
these! How obviously and how forcibly is the truth 
taught here that saints at death pass into a state all 
joyful, but the wicked into one of unutterable torment! 
4. We learn the state of mind in which the wicked 
are. This man asks for only the very slightest mitiga- 
tion. He says not one word about pardon ; this he 
knows to be impossible. How small the boon he 



2cS4 THE RICH MAN AND LAZAR1 

dares to ask! How very small, if he could have had 
it, would have been the boon of one small drop of 
water on a tongue tormented in flame! Yet he does 
not dare to ask for anything beyond this ; — nor even 
this of God ! He knew and he most deeply felt that 
he had cast off God, and God in turn had cast off him. 
He could not think of speaking to God. He could 
venture to speak only to Abraham ; and this solitary 
Bible case of prayer to saints in heaven surely affords 
no very plausible foundation for the Romish practice. 
This rich man had not the least hope of release from 
his woe. He did not ask so great a boon as this. 
Deep in his soul he felt that such a request was for- 
ever precluded. 

It is remarkable, too, that, though the boon he did 
ask was so trifling and his need so great, yet even this 
pittance was denied him. Abraham gave him plainly 
to understand that this was impossible. Son, said he, 
remember that thou in thy lifetime hast received thy 
good things; thou hast had thine all; there are no 
more for thee to enjoy! 

5. Besides this, there is a great gulf fixed — parting 
forever the saved from the damned: we cannot go to 
you if we would; you cannot come to us, however 
much you may desire it. Most plainly does Christ 
teach in this representation that the state of both the 
righteous and the wicked is fixed, fixed forever, and 
forever changeless. There can be no passage open, 
therefore, as some would fain have it, from one world 
to the other. They who are in heaven can never get 
to hell to help the suffering ones there if they would; 



THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 285 

and, on the other hand, the miserable in hell can never 
gfet to heaven. What less than this could the Saviour 
have intended to teach — that each class enter at death 
upon another state which is to each alike unchange- 
able? The righteous cannot pass the great gulf to hell; 
the wicked cannot pass it to heaven. Once heaven's 
gate was open to even the sinner on his repentance. 
Now it is open to him no more. He has passed away 
from the world where his moral state can be changed. 
He has entered on one where no change can reach him 
any more at all forever. 

6. The wicked dread to have their friends come to 
them in this place of torment. You see this feeling 
most distinctly manifested in this parable. The reason 
of the feeling is obvious. They are still human beings, 
and therefore it can be no joy to them to have their 
earthly friends come into their place of woe. They 
have human feelings. They know they can look for no 
alleviation of their own woe from the presence of their 
friends. They know that if those friends come there 
as they did they can never escape; therefore they beg 
that those friends may never come. Therefore this 
rich man prays that Abraham would send Lazarus to 
his five brethren, to testify to them, lest they also come 
into that place of torment. 

7. The state of mind that rejects the Bible would 
reject any testimony that could be given. This is 
plainly taught here, and can be proved. It can be 
proved that the testimony of one who should rise from 
the dead is no better or stronger than that of the Bible. 
Paul said he had been caught up to the third heaven, 



286 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 

but men would not believe him. Or take the case of 
Lazarus, raised beyond all question from the dead. We 
are not told what he taught, nor is it said that his in- 
structions made any special impressions on the living 
unbelievers of that generation. Those of you who 
have read the history of William Tennant — a co-la- 
borer with Whitfield and Edwards, know how he appa- 
rently died; how after death he went to heaven; how 
he, too, like Paul, saw there unspeakable things which 
no man could utter; how he returned again, and lived 
several years as one who had seen the glories of heaven; 
but was this stronger evidence than the Bible itself? 
Did it surpass in strength of demonstration the teach- 
ings of Moses and of the prophets ? Yet more, did it 
surpass the force and evidence with which Jesus spake, 
and also his apostles? No, verily. When unbelief has 
taken possession of the mind, you may pile miracle on 
miracle; men will not believe it. Suppose ever so 
many should rise from the dead. Men who reject the 
Bible would not believe their testimony. They would 
insist either that they had not been really dead, or that, 
if they had been, they did not bring back a reliable re- 
port from that other country. They would make a 
thousand objections, as they do now against the 
Bible, and with much more plausibility then than now. 
Now, they only know their objections are really un- 
founded; then they would have more* plausible objec- 
tions to make, and would be sure to give them credit 
enough to refuse to repent under their teachings. They 
would not be persuaded even then. 

8. The estimation in which God holds men may 



THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 287 

not be learned from their outward circumstances. His 
favor cannot be inferred from the trappings of wealth; 
nor is it precluded by any amount of poverty. These 
external things neither prove nor disprove God's appro- 
bation of the hearts and the life of men. 

9. The righteous need not envy rich sinners. Laz- 
arus did not envy the rich man. He saw that he was 
petted for his great wealth, but pitied rather than en- 
vied him. He doubtless understood that this man was 
having his good things in this world. So good men, 
if they have faith, understand that those rich and 
wicked men are receiving all their good things in this 
world; therefore are far from being objects of envy. 

10. The former poverty of the righteous poor will 
give a keener relish to the joys of heaven. Think of 
the abject poverty of this man — wandering about with 
no home, no place even to lay his head. So multitudes 
in Eastern countries may be seen lying around the city 
walls like the swine of the streets. I saw them in 
Malta when I was there, and in Sicily also. They had 
no home to go to, no resources against a sick or stormy 
day. So Lazarus lived; and it was from such a life and 
such scenes that he was transferred to the royal palace 
of Jehovah. Take the case of some poor beggar lying 
helpless outside the palace-walls of Queen Victoria. 
Suppose him suddenly taken up and exalted to the 
highest honors of the palace itself. How would his 
joy intoxicate his brain — too much for flesh and blood 
to bear! So poor saints passing from the dunghill on 
earth to the golden palaces of heaven. It is well they 
lose their nerves in the change, for surely nerves of 



2 88 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 

flesh could not bear so great a change. See Lazarus, 
sick and sore, perhaps putrid — licked by dogs; but he 
reached at length the crisis of his sorrows, and all sud- 
denly the mortal coil drops, and his spirit takes wings 
— angels receive him; he soars away, and heaven opens 
wide its gates of pearl to make him welcome! Some- 
times when I have stood and seen the Christian die — 
have seen him struggle and pant and gasp and pass 
away, I have said, What a wonderful change is this ! See 
how that eye grows glassy and dark; then it closes; 
it sees no more of earth, but all suddenly it opens on 
the glories of the upper world, to be closed no more 
forever ! 

ii. But to have the luxuries of this life superseded 
by the poverty and woe of hell — how awful ! This rich 
man had royal wealth. We are told that he fared 
sumptuously every day — not only on special occasions, 
but every day! Every day, too, he was clad in purple 
and fine linen; but now how wonderful the contrast! 
Nothing is said of the burial of Lazarus; perhaps he 
had none worth noticing; but this man had a funeral. 
It was a noticeable fact. Perhaps thousands gathered 
round his remains to do him honor — but where is he? 
Lifting up his eyes in hell, being in torments! What 
a change ! From his table and his palace, to hell ! Laz- 
arus passed from his sores and beggary to heaven; the 
rich man, from his pomp and pride and feasting, to hell. 
As the great poverty of Lazarus, so set off in contrast 
with heaven, must have given great edge and keenness 
to the joys of that world, so, on the reverse scale, how 
dreadful the contrast which this rich man experiences! 



THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 289 

If we always get clearer and stronger views by contrast, 
surely we have a picture drawn here that is adapted to 
teach us awful truth and force it home on the soul with 
telling power. 

12. If it be true that angels convey saints to heaven, 
as we are taught both here and elsewhere in God's word, 
then it is not irrational to suppose that what many 
saints say in their dying hours of the things they see, 
is strictly true. Gathering darkness clouds the senses, 
and the mind becomes greatly spiritual, as their looks 
plainly show. Those looks — the eye, the countenance, 
the melting whisper, these tell the story better than any 
words can do it; indeed, no words can describe those 
looks — no language can paint what you can stand by 
and see and hear — a peace so deep and so divine; this 
shows that the soul is almost in heaven. In all ages it 
has been common for some dying saints to hear music 
which they supposed to be of heaven, and to see angels 
near and around them. With eyes that see what others 
cannot see, they recognize their attending angels as 
already come. "Don't you hear that music?" say they. 
"Don't you see those shining ones? they come, they 
come!" But attending friends are yet too carnal to 
see such objects and to hear such sounds; for it is the 
mind, and not the body, that has eyes. It is the mind 
that sees, and not the body. No doubt, in such cases, 
they do really see angelic forms and hear angelic voices. 
The Bible says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is 
the death of his saints." How gloriously do these 
closing scenes illustrate this truth ! 

13. If this be true of saints, then doubtless wicked 
13 



290 THE RICH MAX AND LAZARUS. 

spirits are allowed to drag the wicked down from their 
dying beds to hell. Nor is it unreasonable to suppose 
that they, too, really see awful shapes and hear dread- 
ful sounds. "Who is that weeping and wailing? Did 
I not hear a groan ? Is there not some one weeping 
as if in awful agony? Oh, that awful thing! take 
him away, take him away ! He will seize me and drag 
me down; take him away, away/" 

So the wicked are sometimes affected in their dying 
moments. There is no good reason to doubt that these 
objects seen and sounds heard, by saints and sinners in 
their last earthly moments, are realities. You who have 
read Dr. Nelson's book on infidelity, cannot but have 
noticed especially what he says of the experience of 
persons near death. These things passed under his 
observation chiefly while he was a physician, and while 
yet an infidel himself. Dying sinners would cry out, 
"Oh, that awful creature! take him away, away! why 
don't you take him away? " Ye who know Dr. Nelson, 
must have known that he did not say these things at 
random. He did not admit them without evidence, or 
state them without due consideration. 

14. We are left to infer the character of this rich man 
from his worldly-mindedness. Christ did not seem to 
deem it necessary to state that he was a wicked man, 
but left this to be inferred from his self-indulgent life. 
He needed only to say of him that he lived for self- 
gratification ; that he used his wealth for himself only, 
and not for the good of man, or for the glory of God. 
This explained his character sufficiently. 

People act very much in this world is if the)- sup- 



THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 2CjI 

posed poverty would disqualify them for heaven. They 
would seem to hold the exact opposite of the truth. 
Christ said, " How hardly shall a rich man enter into 
the kingdom of heaven;" and yet, who seems to have 
the least fear of losing heaven by means of the snare 
of wealth? How wonderful is the course that men 
pursue, and indeed a great many Christian men are 
pursuing! A Christian mother, writing t*> me from 
New York, said, "All, even Christians, are giving them- 
selves up to making money, MONEY, MONEY! They 
are wholly given up to stocks, and banks, and getting 
rich." There is a great deal of this spirit all over the 
country, and even here. But look at it in the light of 
this parable and of our Saviour's assumption in regard 
to the character of this rich man, and what a fearful 
state is this to live and to die in! 

15. What can Universalists say or believe when they 
read such passages as this ? What miserable shifts they 
must make to interpret these words ! I recollect when 
I tried and wanted to be Universalist, and for this pur- 
pose went to their meetings and heard their arguments, 
I said to myself, "For very shame, I could never use 
such arguments; no, not for the shame of admitting 
and avowing such absurdities!" What can be more 
absurd than to resort to such sophistry and special 
pleading to set aside statements so clear and direct to 
the point as these in this chapter ! 

God is giving to all sinners — to you sinners in this 
place — a great many rich gifts. What use are you 
making of them? What are you doing with these 
gifts ? What are you doing with these things which 



292 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 

God comes down each day to bring to you ? Are you 
cavilling, to prevent Christ from saving you if you can? 
Many act as if they meant to avoid being saved if by 
any means they can. You act just like reprobates. — 
But I must explain myself. I often meet with persons 
whose spirit makes me believe they are reprobates. You 
know that all things are eternally present to the mind 
of God. I^e saw how these sinners would treat the 
gospel. He saw they would repel and hate Christ — 
would not love his service nor accept the offers of his 
great salvation. He saw all this in his past eternity: 
therefore He reprobated them; therefore He gave them 
over to their own hearts' lusts. Those things which 
God saw in the depths of his eternity, we only see as 
they boil up upon the surface of actual present life. 
You see them resist the Spirit; you see them cavil and 
fight against God's truth; you know they are fighting 
against God. So strongly does the conviction fasten 
on the minds of Christians in some cases, that they 
cannot pray for those who they are assured are rep- 
robates. Said a very pious woman, "For ten years, 
I have not prayed for that son." Why? She saw that 
he was set against God, and she could not pray for him. 
It is indeed an awful thing to find such cases in Chris- 
tian families. Nobody can tell the agony of a parent's 
heart to see a son setting at naught all the claims and 
all the mercies of God, and working his dismal way 
obstinately down to the depths of an eternal hell. 
Some of you before me to-day, know that you have 
children who give awful evidence of being reprobate ! 
Hear that man across the street sighing as he moves 



THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 293 

along. What is the matter? He is in agony for a 
hardened, reprobate son. 

You call at a neighbor's door; you ring the bell; the 
mother comes. You see the tear in her eye; she can 
scarcely speak. What is the matter? She has a son, 
and she fears he is a reprobate. All his conduct 
heightens the awful fear that he is given over of God. 

But let those who have not gone so far, take warn- 
ing. Some of those whom you have mocked and re- 
viled, you may by-and-by see in glory. They may be 
in Abraham's bosom, and you afar off ! You may cry 
to them for help, but all in vain. Will they rush to 
your help ? No. You see your father, your mother, 
afar off in that spirit land, — you think they will fly to 
succor you, and bring you at least one drop of water, — 
they used to do so many a time when you were in pain. 
Ah ! many a time has that mother watched over your 
suffering frame, and rushed to your relief; but will she 
do so now? " My son, hear this: there is no passing 
from this place to that. You once lived in my house 
and lay in my bosom, but I cannot bring you one drop 
of water now!" And has it come to this? Must it 
come to this? Ah, yes, it must come to this! 

Christian parents, one word to you. Suppose you 
conceive of this as your case. You see one of your 
children crying, "Oh, give me one drop of water to 
cool my burning tongue!" I know what Universalists 
would say to this. They say, " Can a parent be happy, 
and see this? And do you think a parent is more 
compassionate than God?" 

But in that hour of retribution, those Christian pa- 



294 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 

rents will say even of the sons and daughters they 
have borne, "Let them perish, they are the enemies of 
God and of his kingdom! Let them perish, since they 
would not have salvation ! They must perish, for God's 
throne must stand, and ought to stand, though all the 
race go down to hell!" 



XVI. 
THE WANTS OF MAN, AND THEIR SUPPLY. 



"He began to be in want." — Luke xv. 14. 

"Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for 
they shall be filled."— Matthew v. 6. 

THE parable of the prodigal son is intended to illus- 
trate the case of the sinner, coming to himself, 
opening his eyes to his true condition, and feeling him- 
self destitute, empty, and wretched. 

Man, as he stands revealed to himself in conscious- 
ness, is a wonderful being. By the earliest teachings 
of consciousness he finds himself to be a duality, con- 
sisting of body and soul. Farther revelations made in 
consciousness show him to be in some respects a tri- 
unity. For example, he has three classes of mental 
attributes, sensibility, intellect, and will. Still further, 
and yet more important in its bearings, he finds him- 
self a tri-unity, inasmuch as he has three sides to his 
nature, — one related to the material universe around 
him; another to all objects of thought and knowledge; 
and still another, related to God and to duty. 

1 . He has first a body, and, through this, peculiar rela- 
tions to the world he lives in. He has appetites for 
food, and numerous wants that terminate on the phys- 
ical universe. These wants crave their appropriate 



296 THE WANTS OF MAN, 

supplies, and cannot be satisfied with anything else. 
In the order of time, these are earliest developed. 
They are few in number, — that is, they may be, — and 
those which are real are so. This cfcass alone cease at 
death. Yet while they exist, they must be supplied. 

Another fact deserving notice in reference to this 
class of wants is that man immediately assumes the 
existence of the objects to which his physical wants 
are correlated. The infant assumes this by instinct. 
There is no need that you should prove to man that 
these objects exist. He assumes this, and has only to 
inquire where they may be found. By a necessity of 
his nature he assumes their existence, and sets himself 
forthwith to search for them. 

2. In the next place, let it be noticed that man has 
also an intellectual nature. He is made capable of 
knowledge, and has also an intense desire to know. 
These are real wants of his being. God has provided for 
their supply in the illimitable ocean of truth which in- 
vests him on every side. God has also breathed into his 
soul a spirit of inquiry, and acting out its deep im- 
pulses, he must inquire into the truth and reason of 
things. It is curious to notice the difference between 
children and other animals. If you had never seen an 
infant before, and were to study his developments for 
the first time, you would be forcibly struck with these re- 
markable traits. The little one begins to notice, and to 
look inquiringly, almost as soon as it begins to look at 
all. See him fix his eyes upon his little hands, as if he 
would ask, What are these? He looks into his mother's 
eye as if he would ask a thousand questions, long be- 



AND THEIR SUPPLY. 2Q7 

fore he can utter a word. But you can find no such 
manifestations of thought and inquiry in the kitten and 
the lamb. Give them enough to eat and scope for rest 
and play, and they are satisfied. They will never seem 
to ask you the reasons of things. Nay more, you can- 
not awaken within them a spirit of inquiry by any ap- 
pliances you can employ. It is not in them, and you 
cannot get it in. 

But the infant is a philosopher by birth. He has 
intellectual wants lying in his very nature, and he can- 
not be satisfied without their supply. He must know 
the reasons of things. This is the true idea of philos- 
ophy. The lower animals will lie down perfectly sat- 
isfied without knowing the reasons of things, or any- 
thing more about things than just suffices to meet their 
animal wants. But man, even from infancy, has wants 
pressing upon him in this direction, and he rouses him- 
self, like a lion from his lair, to grasp the good his in- 
ner being craves in this direction. He cannot be satis- 
fied without. He finds himself related to the whole 
universe of matter, and oh, what a world is opened to 
him for inquiry and knowledge ! How naturally he 
looks up and abroad ! It is not easy for the horse or 
the ox to look up. Their eye is prone; but man's is 
outward and upward. Man is made for inquiry. 

It is this spirit of inquiry which leads so many young 
people to this place. They come here to get knowl- 
edge. How they hang on our lips, and press on us for 
the reasons of things, as if they could not be satisfied 
till they have penetrated to the bottom of every 
subject. 



13* 



298 THE WANTS OF MAN, 

Men assume that there is an explanation of every- 
thing. They assume that these innate demands for 
knowledge were created, not to be denied — not to re- 
main ungratified, but to be gratified. Plence they grasp 
after knowledge, searching for it as for silver, and as 
if they deemed it more to be desired than gold, yea, 
than much fine gold. What young man or young 
woman has not felt such curiosity excited, as to extort 
the cry, / must know : I must find out the facts on this 
subject, and the reasons of the facts besides ! 

3. Thirdly, man has yet another side to his nature — 
the moral and spiritual department, correlated to God, to 
his attributes and law, and to great questions of duty 
and destiny. Man learns from consciousness that he 
has such a side to his being — such a department in his 
nature. Hence he inquires after God. He raises 
questions about right and wrong, and asks to know the 
nature of virtue and vice. Often he finds in himself a 
great uneasiness of which he cannot well divine the 
cause. It puts him upon pressing these inquiries into 
his responsibilities and his mission in this state of his 
existence. 

Let it now be especially observed that man instinc- 
tively assumes the existence of those things which stand 
related to each of these three sides of his nature. The 
infant begins to feel after his food with no thought of 
question as to the fact of there being food provided for 
his wants. When intelligence opens, the same assump- 
tion is made, that there are verities to be known, and 
the reasons why these things are so rather than other- 
wise. In like manner, when the eyes of the moral man 



AND THEIR SUPPLY. 299 

begin to open, he assumes his own immortality, and 
assumes also the existence of a God. This is, indeed, 
the true account of his knowledge of this truth. Some 
have supposed that the idea of God in the human mind 
is wholly a thing of education. It is so in the same 
sense in which much of our intellectual knowledge is. 
There are many things about God which we need to 
learn from his word and from his works. But no man 
needs to have it demonstrated to him that there is a 
God, any more than a child needs to have it proved 
that there is food provided for him in the physical world, 
or the adult, that there are things to be known. The 
great cardinal truths pertaining to the existence of God, 
accountability, and duty, are assumed as readily and 
surely as men assume that there are truths correlated 
to their intelligence, or supplies in nature for their ani- 
mal wants. It is of no use to say that some men are 
atheists, and therefore this doctrine cannot be true. 
Some men have, by speculation, befooled themselves 
into the belief (so they say) that there is no physical 
universe. But they believe in its existence none the less, 
and crave the good it proffers, and cannot live without 
it. Each one of these philosophers, although he may 
deny the existence of any physical universe, and de- 
clare there is no such thing as matter, yet expects 
his dinner at the appointed hour, and needs it for his 
comfort full as much as if he had not denied the exis- 
tence of any such thing. So these atheists inly know 
there is a God, although they say," in their heart," 
there is none. 

It is vastly difficult for any man to feel at ease while 



300 THE WANTS OF MAN, 

he is resisting the constitutional demands of any de- 
partment of his nature. "Alas!" said a young and 
ambitious lawyer, who was driving his business and his 
books and his briefs, — "alas!" said he, "what is the 
matter with me ! I try to study, and. cannot. I try to 
be happy, but I am not. What do I want? Wherein 
is the lack that, with all I have, yet leaves me so 
wretched ? " 

It was this strain of inquiry which led him to see 
that he needed God for his portion, and could not find 
a paradise without Him. 

Men need not wait for the proof of their immor- 
tality, or for proof of the necessity of virtue as a 
means for happiness. They know these things by a 
spontaneity of their moral nature. They know that 
holiness is a great want of their moral nature. How 
plainly do they see and know that they need such a 
being as God, to love and to obey, to trust and to 
adore ! 

I appeal to these students. If you have cultivated 
the habit of self-study, you have learned that you can- 
not find out yourself without finding God. Tracing 
out the problems of your own existence reveals to you 
your Maker. An irresistible conviction will force itself 
upon you that there is a God, and that you have every- 
thing to hope from his favor, and everything to fear 
from his frown. A view of yourself and of your own 
spiritual wants will show you that nothing else can 
supply your need but God. Have you not already 
found that the more you study, and the more you cul- 
tivate the habit of reflection, the less you can make 



AND THEIR SUPPLY. 301 

yourself happy without God? Most of you find it 
impossible to enjoy yourselves in sin as you were wont 
to do before you gave yourselves to thought and reflec- 
tion. The higher you ascend in the grade of moral 
and intellectual culture, the more intensely will you 
feel the want of moral culture and moral enjoyments. 
It is impossible for you to rise as a man without feel- 
ing a growing demand for the presence and influence 
of God as your Father and Friend. 

Commonly, as the human mind opens to surround- 
ing objects, and as its powers successively develop 
themselves, attention is first turned to physical wants, 
and next to intellectual. In one or the other of these 
pursuits, or in both, man is wont to become so en- 
grossed as mainly to overlook the moral side of his 
nature. Yet the wants of his moral being will de- 
velop themselves, often in such a way at first as to 
make him exceedingly wretched, while yet he does not 
see what ails him, and quite fails to comprehend the 
reason of his unhappiness. No amount of knowledge 
or purely mental culture can make him happy. On 
the contrary, the more he know T s the more he wants, 
and the more intensely dissatisfied he becomes with 
himself. 

The objects that supply his bodily wants are at 
hand. He meets them on every side, and in abun- 
dance. So, also, pushing his efforts for this end, he 
finds ample materials for supplying his intellectual 
wants. He finds enough for mind to feed upon — 
enough to exercise his faculties, and interest him in 
studious thought and earnest research. 



302 THE WANTS OF MAN, 

So, also, with his moral and spiritual wants. These 
have their correlated objects. God is all around him. 
In the kingdoms of nature he sees the handiwork of 
an intelligent, designing Maker; and in the ways of 
providence, he cannot help seeing the agency of a 
kind and beneficent Father. As his natural eye gives 
him the material world, so his spiritual eye would give 
him God in everything — were it not for the blinding 
influence of a bad heart. This fearfully darkens his 
vision to those great spiritual truths he so much needs 
to know. While he might be advancing hour by 
hour in the knowledge -of God and of spiritual 
truth, going down into the great depths of sympathy 
with God, he finds, instead, a fearful conflict between 
his depraved impulses and his conscience, under the in- 
fluence of which, truth gains but a slow access to his 
soul. Moreover, the moral side of his nature being 
latest developed, he often becomes so engrossed with 
sensual or intellectual pursuits, that he scarce has any 
power left for effective thought upon moral subjects. 
How fearfully some give way to worldly interests and 
claims, and others also to intellectual pursuits, some of 
you must know but too well. 

Yet those moral wants you have neglected will some 
day arise and make their demands heard. It is well if 
they assume this urgency while yet their supply is pos- 
sible. The prodigal son was a case of one who fel.t 
the pressure of these wants. He said, " I must go home 
to my father." David entered on record his testimony, 
" My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee 
in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." " As the 



AND THEIR SUPPLY. 303 

hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my 
soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, 
for the living God; when shall I come and appear be- 
fore God?" The mind thus becomes deeply con- 
scious of cravings and aspirations which have God for 
their object, and which nothing but God can supply. 
If you examine the nature of these wants, you find 
them in part social. The mind craves communion 
with other minds. It thirsts for society, and wisely 
concludes that no society, no fellowship with other 
minds, can in any wise compare with communion with 
God. Perhaps he has tried the fellowship of mortals, 
and found it still unsatisfying. Hence he craves the 
richer, far richer, fellowship with the Father and with 
his Son Jesus Christ. He longs to rise above com- 
munion with the finite to communion with the Infinite. 
Weary of drawing instructions from erring man, he 
thirsts for the pure fountains of knowledge as they 
flow from the Infinite Intelligence. Conscious that he 
must himself exist forever, he craves the acquaintance 
and sympathy of his eternal Maker and Father. As 
he comes to know something of his great and glorious 
Friend, he feels that he needs an eternity in which to 
study God in his multiform and wonderful works and 
ways. And when he comes to breathe the atmos- 
phere of purity which invests the glorious Presence, 
how intensely does he long for deliverance from all 
moral corruption! Oh, how does his soul thirst for an 
ever-growing conformity to .God! The language of 
holy men on the sacred page is exceedingly strong on 
these points, as we may see from David's Psalms and 



304 THE WANTS OF MAN, 

Paul's Epistles. The latter declares, " Yea, doubtless, 
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord; for whom I have 
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but 
dung, that I may win Christ and be found in Him." 
No one can read these strong utterances of feeling, de- 
sire, and purpose, without seeing that the mind may 
develop itself with amazing intensity in this direction. 
There is scope and occasion for its utmost energies and 
aspirations. 

REMARKS. 

i. He must be wretched who neglects to supply 
his physical wants. He must pay the stern penalty of 
his neglect, as he will soon learn to his sorrow. Each 
organ of the body needs its appropriate development, 
exercise, and nutriment. He who should disregard the 
laws of his constitution in respect to the proper 
supply of these constitutional demands will find, ere 
long, that the penalty of such neglect is fearful and 
sure. 

In like manner, if he stultifies himself and takes no 
pains to inquire after truth and knowledge; if he never 
troubles himself to know, and denies to his intellectual 
nature all its just demands, he must be far more wretch- 
ed than a brute can be. But let a man neglect all 
spiritual culture and training, he becomes far more 
wretched still. Physical demands cease with the death 
of the body; the spiritual must continue during his 
entire existence, stretching on and still on forever, and 
probably forever increasing. 

2. How cruel for a man to consider himself as 



AND THEIR SUPPLY. 305 

merely a brute! Giving himself up to a grovelling life, 

j 

regardless of his spiritual nature and even of his intel- 
lectual nature also, what a wretch he must be! Ye 
who are students know how to pity and how to despise 
him! — You can understand what he loses, for you 
know what satisfaction is taken In finding out the rea- 
sons of things. But see the mere animal who never 
looks abroad, never raises an inquiry. Why does he 
not set himself to study and think? Why not cast his 
thoughts abroad for knowledge? Why does he live a 
fool and a dunce, when he might be a man ? 

3. How cruel to treat anybody else as a mere ani- 
mal ! This is , the most cruel thing you can do towards 
a fellow-being. You deny the existence of those great 
qualities which constitute him a man. You feed him 
as you would a horse, withholding all aliment for his 
intelligent mind. You feed him and your horse, each 
for the same reason; — you want to keep him in work- 
ing order to serve your selfish purposes. You regard 
all knowledge beyond what your horse needs as only 
so much injury to him. Holding your slave as his 
master, do you send him to school ? Never. Do you 
teach him to read? Never. Do you provide him any 
means of instruction? No. In the same manner you 
shut down the gate upon his moral nature. You close 
up the windows of his soul and keep it as utterly dark 
as possible to the light of heaven. You tighten the 
thumb-screws down on every inlet of knowledge, so 
that he shall never know that he is anything more or 
other than a beast! Is not this horrible? What." then, 



306 THE WANTS OF MAN, 

shall we say of the man who does just this upon him- 
self! 

4. The more a man develops his intellectual facul- 
ties, yet neglects moral culture, the more miserable he 
becomes. It is striking to see how wretched the most 
highly cultivated men become. During all the latter 
years of his life, Daniel Webster was never seen sober, 
but he was wretched. While in his senses, his mind 
was deep in sorrow. Look in upon Congress and see 
there the great men of our land and of other lands; 
not a man of them is happy without piety and sound 
moral culture. Go and ask Byron if his gigantic mind 
and almost superhuman genius, made Jiim an angel 
of bliss. Ask him if he found this world a paradise. 
Perhaps no man ever cursed his fellow-beings more in- 
tensely, or enjoyed less in their society, than he. All such 
men, with high intellectual culture, make themselves 
wretched because they leave their moral powers in a 
state of utter wreck and distortion. There is no escape 
from this result. High intellectual culture must inevita- 
bly develop the idea and the claims of God. Let them 
turn their inquiries which way they will, they find God, 
and must feel more or less convicted of obligation to 
love and obey them. Repelling these obligations, it is 
impossible that they can be otherwise than wretched. 
I alluded to the case of a young lawyer who asked, 
"What makes me so unhappy? I feel myself thor- 
oughly wretched, and surely I can see no reason for it." 
The secret was this: all his life long he had neglected 
God; his studies had more and more brought God to 
view, and his sensibilities, under the action of con- 



AND THEIR SUPPLY. 307 

science, had become exceedingly acute. How could he 
be otherwise than wretched! He might not seethe 
reason of his unhappy state; yet, if he had well con- 
sidered the laws of his moral nature, he would have 
found the reason lying there. Many of you begin to 
find the same results in your experience, and you must 
realize them more and more if you remain alienated in 
heart from God while yet your intelligence is more and 
more revealing God and his rightful claims on your 
heart. 

5. Neglecters of God are not well aware either of 
the cause or the degree of their wretchedness. The 
wants of their physical nature are all met. They are 
fed and clad, and have every comfort that their physi- 
cal system craves. Their social wants, too, are met. 
They have friends and society. They have also culti- 
vated taste and any desired amount of objects for its 
gratification. There is a library and books in plenty. 
There are works of art from the masters in every pro- 
fession. What more could they need? Yet they are 
wretched. What is the matter? How many thousand 
times has' this inquiry been made, What can be the 
matter with me? I have everything heart can wish, or 
the eye desire, — books, teachers, unbounded sources of 
information, — yet I am unhappy; what does ail me? 

I can tell you what. There is another side of your 
nature, more important than all the rest, and more 
craving, yet you shut off all its demands, and deny its 
claims. You have a conscience, yet you resist its mo- 
nitions. You have desires correlated to God, yet you 
deny them their appropriate gratification. No fact is 



308 THE WANTS OF MAN, 

more ennobling to human nature than this, that man 
has desires correlated to God even as he has to his fel- 
low-men, so that he can no more be happy without 
God than he can be without the sympathy and society 
of man. We all understand this law of human nature. 
We see man thirsting for companionship with his fel- 
low-man, longing for society, and we cannot fail to see 
and to say that man is so constructed in his very nature 
that he must have society. Deprive him of it and he 
is wretched. Now the striking fact is that man has an 
equally strong demand in his very constitution for sym- 
pathy and fellowship with God. Unless this too be 
supplied, he cannot be happy. 

Suppose you were to meet a man as ignorant of his 
physical wants as most men are of their spiritual. He 
does not understand, that he must have food for his 
stomach, clothes for his body, heat to warm him in the 
winter frosts. Ah ! you would see the reason of his 
misery ? Strange he does not know enough to supply 
his wants ! 

Or suppose him equally ignorant of his intellectual 
wants. He starves his soul of knowledge. Lean and 
barren, he seems to be panting for something higher 
and better, yet unaware both of the nature of this crav- 
ing and of the proper source of supply. How easily 
could you tell him that " for the soul to be without 
knowledge is not good" ! 

So there is also a moral side to man's nature, and he 
can never be supremely happy till he becomes morally 
perfect. He struggles to get out of his moral agony; 
feels as if he should die if he cannot get out from under 



AND THEIR SUPPLY. 309 

this moral load. Who has not felt this loathing of his 
abominable self, because he did not and would not 
search after God ! Never did any man long for food or 
water more intensely than the man who suffers himself 
to attend to the inner voice of his moral being, and 
thirsts after God. 

6. Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst, for 
when they cry unto God to be filled, He will fill them. 
Let them cry unto God for bread and water; does He 
not hear their cry? Ah, verily, — He hears the young 
ravens when they cry, and the young lions when they 
roar and suffer hunger; and the infant voices of his in- 
telligent creation are not less sure to come up into his 
ear. Does He not love to supply these wants which 
grow out of the nature He gave them ? Indeed He 
does. He spread out the fair earth and its rich fields 
of lovely green. He meant to fill the earth with sup- 
plies for man and beast, yea, for every living thing. 

In like manner, of the mental wants of his intelligent 
creatures. He loves to meet these with open hand; — 
loves to excite the spirit of inquiry and then supply to 
us the means of gratification. The things we need to 
know He loves to teach us. 

But our moral and spiritual wants, He is infinitely 
more ready to supply. Does not your inner heart say, 
Verily, this must be so ? It is so. No sooner does the 
soul go forth after God, than He is near — ineffably near. 
It is wonderful to see how soon God is found when 
once the soul begins in true earnest to inquire after 
Him. Is it not striking that God should so love to re- 
veal Himself, and should take such pains to insinuate 



3IO THE WANTS OF MAN, 

Himself into our confidence, and, as it were, work 
Himself into universal communion and contact with our 
whole souls, so as to fill every moral want of our being? 
In view of this desire and effort on his part, and in view 
also of the means provided and promised for this result, 
we can see why God should command us to "be filled 
with the Spirit." Such infinite supplies provided, and 
such earnest desire manifested on the part of God to 
have us appropriate these supplies to their utmost ex- 
tent; — it is as if an ocean of water were suspended above 
our heads, and we have only to lift the valve and let down 
these ocean waters upon our needy souls. There is 
the promise, let down like a silken cord; what have we 
to do but to take hold of it and pull down infinite 
blessings ! 

7. Until man feels his spiritual wants, he will resist 
all attempts you may make to bring him to God. 
Hence the necessity of touching the mainspring of dan- 
ger, — of arousing his fears, and developing his moral 
sensibility. Hence the need of appeals to his con- 
science and to his sense of danger. Until you can make 
his moral nature sensitive, and rouse up his dark and 
dead soul to moral feelings, there is no hope for him. 
But when you can touch this side of his nature, and 
quicken him to feeling, and even to agony, under the 
lash of conscience, and make him really appreciate his 
wants, then he begins to feel his wants, and to ask how 
they can be met and supplied. This is the true secret 
of promoting revivals. You must go around among 
these dark, insensible minds, and pour in light upon 
this side of their nature. You must wake them up to 



AND THEIR SUPPLY. 3 I I 

earnest thought — you must rouse up the man's con- 
science and soul till he shall cry out after God and his 
salvation. 

I always have strong hopes of students; for although 
they sometimes get wise in their own conceits, and 
sometimes render themselves ridiculous by their low 
-ambition, yet, taken as a class, there is great hope of 
them. If suitable means are used, very many of them 
will be converted. Probably no class of students ever 
passed through college, the right means of instruction 
and influence being used with them, without deeply 
feeling the power of truth, and many of them becoming 
converted. They must, almost of necessity, feel every 
blow that is struck; every truth, brought home clearly 
through their intelligence upon their conscience, wakens 
a response, and impels the soul to cry out after God. 
Hence I have strong hopes of you. Yet many of you, 
I know, are not now converted. God grant you may 
be soon ! I hope the hearts of this Christian people 
will reach your case in strong effectual prayer. You 
can indeed resist every effort made to save you — if you 
will; you can reject Christ, however earnest his 
entreaties or tender his loving kindness; but you cannot 
change your nature so that it shall be happy in rebellion 
against God and his truth; you cannot hush the rebukes 
of an abused conscience forever; these wants of your 
inner being must be met, or what will become of you ? 
Your bodily wants will soon cease; and you need not 
care much therefore for them. Your intellectual 
pleasures, also, must ere long come to an end; for how 
can they pass over with you into the realm of outer 



312 THE WANTS OF MAN. 

darkness, where are weeping and wailing and gnashing 
of teeth ! Doubtless that is a state not of light, and 
truth, and joy in pursuit of knowledge; but of delusions, 
and errors, and of knowledge agonizing its possessor 
with keenest pangs forever and ever ! I do not believe 
sinners will have any intellectual pleasure in hell. It 
cannot be possible that they will enjoy any knowledge 
they will have there, or any means of attaining knowl- 
edge. The very idea is precluded by the relations that 
conscience must sustain to every thing they know. 
All possible knowledge must have some bearing upon 
God, duty, and their moral relations, and hence must 
serve only to harrow up their sensibilities with keenest 
anguish. Oh, how will they gnash their teeth and 
gnaw their tongues in direst woe forever! " There is 
no peace, saith my God, to the wicked !" More and 
more deeply dissatisfied to all eternity ! Execrating 
and cursing their insane selves for the madness of re- 
jecting God and his gospel when they might have had 
both, now it only remains for them to wail in bitter- 
ness and anguish, lifting up their unavailing cries, to 
which the thunders of Jehovah's curse respond in ever- 
lasting echoes, "Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill 
with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given 
him." 

O sinner, will you yet press on into the very jaws of 
such a hell ! 



XVII. 

ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 



"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." — Romans 
x. 10. 

THE subject brought to view in this passage requires 
of us, that we should, 

7". Distinguish carefully between intellectual and 
heart -faith. 

There are several different states of mind which are 
currently called faith, this term being obviously used 
in various senses. So, also, is the term heart used in 
various senses, and, indeed, there are but few terms 
which are not used with some variety of signification. 
Hence it becomes very important to discriminate. 

Thus, in regard to faith, the Scriptures affirm that 
the "devils also believe and tremble," but it surely can- 
not be meant that they have heart-faith. They do not 
"believe unto righteousness." 

Faith in the intellect is a judgment — an opinion. 
The mind so judges, and is convinced that the facts 
are so. Whatever the nature of the things believed, 
this is an involuntary state of mind. Those things 
believed may be truth; they msv relate to God and 
may embrace the great fundamental facts and doctrines 
' 14 



314 ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 

of religion; yet this faith may not result in righteous- 
ness. It is often true that persons have their judg- 
ments convinced, yet this conviction reaches not be- 
yond their intelligence. Or perhaps it may go so much 
further as to move their feelings and play on their 
sensibility, and yet may do nothing more. It may 
produce no change in the will. It may result in 
no new moral purpose; may utterly fail to reach the 
voluntary attitude of the mind, and, hence, will make 
no change in the life. 

But heart-faith, on the other hand, is true confi- 
dence, and involves an earnest committal of one's self 
and interests to the demands of the truth believed. It 
is precisely such a trust as we have in those to whom 
we cling in confidence — such as children feel in their 
real friends and true fathers and mothers. We know 
they are naturally ready to believe what is said to 
them, and to commit themselves to the care of those 
they love. 

The heart is in this. It is a voluntary state of mind 
— always substantially and essentially an act of the 
will. This kind of faith will, of course, alwavs affect 
the feelings, and will influence the life. Naturally, it 
tends towards righteousness, and may truly be said to 
be "unto righteousness." It implies love, and seems 
iii its very nature to unify itself with the affections. 
The inspired writers plainly did not hold faith to be so 
purely an act of will as to exclude the affections. 
Obviously, they made it include the affections. 

II. I must now proceed to notice some of the con- 
ditions of intellectual faith. 



ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 31 5 

1. Sometimes, but not always, faith of the heart is 
essential to faith of the intellect. Thus, it may be 
necessary that we have heart-faith in a man before we 
are duly prepared to investigate the facts that relate to 
his character. So, in relation to God, if we lack heart- 
faith in Him, we are in no state to deal fairly with the 
evidence of his works and ways. Here it is well to 
notice the vast difference between the irresistible 
assumptions of the mind respecting God, and those 
things which we arrive at by study and reasoning. 
Heart-faith seems essential to any candid investigation. 

2. It is also essential to our conviction as to the 
truth. I am not prepared to judge candidly concern- 
ing a friend, unless I have some of this heart-faith in 
him. Suppose I hear a rumor about my best friend, 
affirming something which is deeply scandalous. My 
regard for him forbids my believing this scandalous 
report, unless it comes most fully sustained by testi- 
mony. On the other hand, if I had no heart-confi- 
dence in him, my intelligence might be thrown entirely 
off and I might do both him and myself the greatest 
injustice. 

Many of you have had this experience in regard to 
faith. Often, in the common walks of life, you have 
found that, if it had not been for your heart-confidence, 
you would have been greatly deceived. Your heart 
held on; at length, the evidence shone out; you were 
in a condition to judge charitably, and thus you arrived 
at the truth. 

3. Heart-faith is specially essential where there is 
mystery. Of course there are points in religious doc- 



3 16 ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 

trine which are profoundly mysterious. This fact is 
not peculiar to religious truth, but is common to 
every part of God's works — which is equivalent to say- 
ing, It is common to all real science. Any child can 
ask me questions which I cannot answer. Without 
heart-confidence, it would be impossible for society to 
exist. Happily for us, we can often wisely confide 
when we cannot, by any means, understand. 

In the nature of the case, there must be mysteries 
about God, for the simple reason that He is infinite 
and we are finite. Yet He reveals enough of Himself 
to authorize us to cherish the most unbounded confi- 
dence in Him. Therefore, let no one stumble at this, 
as though it were some strange thing; for, in fact, the 
same thing obtains to some extent in all our social re- 
lations. In these, we are often compelled to confide in 
our friends where the case seems altogether suspicious. 
Yet we confide, and, by-and-by, the truth comes to 
light, and we are thankful that our heart-faith held us 
from doing them injustice. 

4. Again, heart-faith is specially in place where 
there is contradictory evidence. 

Often it may seem to you that God must be partial. 
Then the mind needs the support of confidence in God. 
You go on safely if there is, underlying all, the deep 
conviction'that God is and must be right. See that 
woman, stripped of every thing — husband, children, all; 
— how can she give any account of this? You may 
remember the case of a woman who travelled West 
with her husband and family; there buried her husband 
and all but two little ones, and then made her weary 



ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 317 

way back with these on foot. Pinching want and 
weariness drove her into a stranger's dwelling at night- 
fall; there a churlish man would have turned her 
into the street, but his* wife had a human heart, and 
insisted on letting them stay, even if she herself sat up 
all night. Think of the trying case of that lone widow. 
She does not sleep; her mingled grief and faith find 
utterance in the words, "My heart is breaking-, but 
God is good" ! 

How could she make it out that God is good? Just 
as you would in the case of your husband, if one 
should tell you he had gone forever, and proved faithless 
to his vows. You can set this insinuation aside, and let 
your heart rise above it. You do this on the strength 
of your heart-faith. 

So the Christian does in regard to many mysterious 
points in God's character and ways. You cannot see 
how God can exist without even beginning to exist; or 
how He can exist in three persons, since no other be- 
ings known to you exist in more than one. You can- 
not see how He can be eternally good, and yet suffer 
sin and misery to befall his creatures. But, with heart- 
faith, we do not need to have everything explained. 
The heart says to its Heavenly Father, I do not need 
to catechise Thee, nor ask impertinent questions, for I 
know it is all right. I know God can never do any- 
thing wrong. And so the soul finds a precious joy in 
trusting, without knowing how the mystery is solved. 
Just as a wife, long parted from her husband, and, 
under circumstances that need explanation, yet when 
he returns, she rushes to meet him with her loving 



31 8 ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 

welcome, without waiting for one word of explanation. 
Suppose she had waited for the explanation before she 
could speak a kind word. This might savor of the 
intellect, but certainly it would not do honor to her 
heart. For her heart-confidence, her husband loves 
her better than ever, and well he may ! 

You can understand this; and can you not also apply 
it to your relations to God ? God may appear to your 
view to be capricious, but you know He is not; may 
appear unjust, but you know He cannot be. Ah, 
Christian, when you comprehend the fact of God's wider 
reach of vision, and of his greater love, then you will 
cry out, with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I 
trust in Him." When you have trusted so, think you 
not that your heart will be as dear to Christ as ever? 

III. Let us next consider what are not, and what 
are, conditions of heart -faith. 

i. It is not conditioned upon comprehending the 
facts to be believed. We may know a thing to be a 
fact, while yet we are entirely unable to explain it. The 
reasons and the explanations are quite a different 
thing from the evidence which sustains the fact, and 
commends it to our belief. 

2. Let it also be borne in mind that it is not half 
as necessary to know all the reasons in the case of 
God's ways as in man's. The ground of the differ- 
ence is, that we know, in general, that God is always 
right — a knowledge which we cannot have in regard to 
man. Of God, our deepest and most resistless con- 
victions assure us that all is right. Our corresponding 
convictions in the case of man are far from being irre- 



ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 319 

sistible. Yet, even in regard to men, we often find 
that a conviction of their rectitude, which is far less 
than irresistible, leads us to trust. How much more 
should our stronger convictions as to God lead us 
evermore to trust in Him! 

3. Again, this heart-faith in God does not rest on 
our ability to prove even that God exists. Many an 
earnest Christian has never thought of this, any more 
than of proving his own existence. An irresistible con- 
viction gives him both, without other proof. 

But, positively, God must be revealed to your inner 
being so that you are conscious of his existence and 
presence. There is not, perhaps, in the universe, a 
thing of which we can be more certain than of God's 
existence. The mind may be more deeply acquainted 
with God than with any other being or thing. Hence 
this heart-confidence may be based on God's revela- 
tions to the inner soul of man. Such revelations may 
reach the very highest measure of certainty. I do not 
mean to imply here that we are not certain of the facts 
of observation. But this is a stronger assurance and 
certainty. The mind becomes personally acquainted 
with God, and is conscious of this direct and positive 
knowledge. 

4. A further condition is, that the soul be inwardly 
drawn to God. In our relations to each other, we are 
sometimes conscious of a peculiar sympathy which 
draws us towards a friend. ■ This fact is a thing of con- 
sciousness, of which we may be quite unable to give 
any explanation. A similar attraction draws us to 



320 ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 

God, and seems to be a natural condition of the 
strongest forms of heart-faith. 

5. It is quite essential to heart-faith that we have 
genuine love to God. In the absence of good-will to- 
wards God, there never can be this faith of the heart. 
The wife has no heart-faith in her husband, save as she 
loves him. Her heart must be drawn to him in real 
love — else this heart-faith will draw back and demand 
more evidence. 

In view of this principle, God takes measures to win 
our love and draw our hearts to Himself. As human 
beings do towards each other, so He manifests his 
deep interest in us — pours out his blessings on us in 
lavish profusion, and, in every way, strives to assure us 
that He is truly our friend. These are his methods to 
win the confidence of our hearts. When it becomes 
real to us that we owe everything to God, — our health, 
gifts, all our comforts, — then we can bear many dark 
and trying things. Then we know that God loves us, 
even though He scourge us; just as children know that 
parents love them, and mean their good, even though 
they chastise them. Under these broad and general 
manifestations of love, they confide, even though there 
be no present manifestations of love. You may re- 
member how Cecil taught his little daughter the mean- 
ing of gospel faith. She came to him, one day, with 
her hands full of little beads, greatly delighted, to 
show them. He said to her calmly, "You had better 
throw them all into the fire." She was almost con- 
founded; but, when she saw he was in earnest, she 
trustfully obeyed, and cast them in. After a few days, 



ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 32 1 

he brought home for her a casket of jewels. "There," 
said he, "my daughter, you had faith in me the other 
day, and threw your beads into the fire; that was faith; 
now I can give you things much more precious. Are 
not these far better? " So you should always believe in 
God. He has jewels for those who will believe, and 
cast away their sins. 

IV. Again, I observe, heart -faith is tinto righteous- 
ness — real obedience. This trustful and affectionate 
state of heart naturally leads us to obey God. I have 
often admired the faith manifested by the old theolo- 
gian philosophers who held fast to their confidence in 
God, despite of the greatest of absurdities. Their 
faith could laugh at the most absurd principles in- 
volved in their philosophy of religious truth. It is a 
remarkable fact that the greater part of the church 
have been in their philosophy necessitarians, holding 
not the freedom, but the bondage, of the will; — their 
doctrine being that the will is determined necessarily 
by the strongest motive. President Edwards held 
these philosophical views, but despite of them, he be- 
lieved that God is supremely good; the absurdities of 
this philosophy did not shake his faith in God. So all 
the really Old School theologians hold the absurdities 
of hyper-Calvinism; as, for example, that God abso- 
lutely and supremely controls all the moral actions of 
all his creatures. 

Dr. Beecher, in controversy with Dr. Wilson, some 
years since, held that obligation implied ability to obey. 
This Dr. Wilson flatly denied. Whereupon Dr. B. re- 
marked that few men could march up and face such a 
14* 



322 ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 

proposition without winking. It is often the case that 
men have such heart-confidence in God that they will 
trust Him despite of the most flagrant absurdities. There 
is less superstition in this than I used to suppose, and 
more faith. Men forget their dogmas and philosophy, 
and, despite of both, love and confide. 

Some men have held monstrous doctrines — even 
that God is the author of sin, and puts forth his divine 
efficiency to make men sin, as truly as, by his Spirit, 
to make them holy. This view was held by Dr. Em- 
mons; yet he was eminently.. a pious man, of childlike, 
trustful spirit. It is indeed strange how such men 
could hold these absurdities at all, and, scarcely less so, 
how they could hold them and yet confide sweetly in 
God. Their hearts must have been fixed in this faith 
by some other influence than that of these monstrous 
notions in philosophy and theology. For these views 
of God, we absolutely know, were contrary to their 
reason, though not to their reasonings — a very wide 
and essential distinction, which is sometimes over- 
looked. The intuitive affirmations of their reason were 
one thing; the points which they reached by their philo- 
sophical reasonings were quite another thing. The for- 
mer could not lie about God, the latter could. The former 
laid that sure foundation for heart-faith; the latter 
went to make up their intellectual notions, the absurdi- 
ties of which, (we notice with admiration,) never 
seemed to shake their Christian faith. While these 
reasonings pushed them on into the greatest absurdi- 
ties, their reason held their faith and piety straight. 

The faith of the heart is proof against all forms of 



OX BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 323 

infidelity. Without this, nothing is proof. For if men 
without piety drop the affirmations of their intuitive 
reason, and then attempt, philosophically, to reason 
out all the difficulties the)" meet with, they almost 
inevitably stumble. 

Heart-faith carries one over the manifold mysteries 
and difficulties of God's providence. In this field 
there must be difficulties, for no human vision can pen- 
etrate to the bottom of God's providential plans and 
purposes. 

So, also, does this faith of the heart carry one over 
the mysteries of the atonement. It is indeed curious 
to notice how the heart gets over all these. It is gen- 
erally the case that the atonement is accepted by the 
heart unto salvation, before its philosophy is under- 
stood. It was manifestly so with the apostles; so 
with their hearers; and so, even with those who heard 
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Bible says but 
very little indeed on the point of the philosophy of the 
atonement. 

So, also, of the doctrine of the Trinity; and so of 
other doctrines generally. They were known and 
taught as practical truths, and were accepted as such, 
long before their philosophy was specially investigated. 
If any difficulties arose in minds specially inquisitive, 
it was overcome by heart-faith, or settled by the intui- 
tive affirmations of the reason, and not by speculative 
reasoning. 

It is in no sense unreasonable that God should re- 
quire us to have such faith in Him. Properly consid- 
ered, He does not require us to believe what we do 



324 ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 

not know to be true. He does not ask us to renounce 
our common sense, and exercise a groundless credulity. 
When we trust his general character, and accept cer- 
tain dark dispensations of providence as doubtless 
right, what is it that we believe ? Not the special 
reason for this mysterious dispensation, but we believe 
that, despite of its dark aspect to us, God's hand in it 
is both wise and good, and we believe this because 
we have abundant ground to confide in his general 
character. It is as if you were to tell me that a known 
and tried friend of mine had told a lie. I should say, 
" I cannot believe it. I know him too well." But you 
say, " Here is the evidence. It looks very dark against 
him." "Very likely," I reply, " but yet I cannot be- 
lieve it. There will be some explanation of this. I 
cannot believe it." 

Now I consider myself fully authorized to reject at 
once all surmises and rumors against my known friend. 
I am bound to do so, until the evidence against him 
becomes absolutely conclusive. This is altogether rea- 
sonable. How much more so in the case of dark 
things in God's doings! 

For it should be considered that man may deceive 
us; God never can. We do not know man's heart al- 
ways, to the very core; and if we did, it may change; 
what once was true, becomes false. But not so wfth 
God: our intuitive convictions affirm that God is always 
good, and always wise; and, moreover, that there can 
never be any declension in his love, or any revolution 
in his character. 



ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 325 

Consequently Christians are often called on to be- 
lieve God, not only without, but against, present evi- 
dence. 

Abraham, called out of his home and country to go 
into a strange land, obeyed, not knowing whither he 
went. He might have asked many questions about 
the reasons; he does not appear to have asked any. 

Commanded to offer up Isaac, he might, with appar- 
ent propriety, have expostulated earnestly. He might 
have said, "Lord, that would be murder! It would 
outrage the natural affection which Thou hast planted 
in my bosom. It would encourage the heathen around 
us in their horrid abominations of making their children 
pass through the fire to Moloch." All this, and more, 
he might have said; but, so far as appears, he said noth- 
ing — save this : "The Lord commands, and I obey. If 
He pleases He can raise up my Isaac from the dead." 
So he went on and virtually offered up his son Isaac, 
and, "in a figure, received him again from the dead." 
And God fixed the seal of his approbation on this act of 
faith, and held it out before all ages as a model of faith 
and obedience, despite of darkness and objections. 

So Christians are often called to believe without 
present evidence, other than what comes from their 
knowledge of God's general character. For a season, 
God lets everything go against them, yet they believe. 
Said a woman, passing through great trials, with great 
confidence in God, "O Lord, I know Thou art good, 
for Thou hast shown me this; but, Lord, others do not 
understand this; they are stumbled at it. Canst Thou 
not show them so that they shall understand this?" 



326 ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 

REMARKS. 

I. The demand for reasons often embarrasses our 
faith. This is one of the tricks of the devil. He 
would embarrass our faith by telling us we must under- 
stand all God's ways before we believe. Yet we -ought 
to see that this is impossible and unreasonable. Abra- 
ham could not see the reasons for God's command to 
offer Isaac a bloody sacrifice; he might have expostu- 
lated; but he did not. The simplicity and beauty of 
his faith appears all along in this very thing — that he 
raised no questions. He had a deeper insight into 
God's character. He knew too much of God to ques- 
tion his wisdom or his love. For, a man might under- 
stand all the reasons of God's ways, yet this knowledge 
might do him no good ; his heart might rebel even 
then. 

In this light you may see why so much is said about 
Abraham's faith. It was gloriously trustful and un- 
questioning! What a model! No wonder God com- 
mends it to the admiring imitation of the world ! 

2. It is indeed true that faith must often go forward 
in the midst of darkness. Who can read the histories 
of believing saints, as recorded in Scripture, without 
seeing that faith often leads the way through trials? It 
would be but a sorry development of faith, if, at every 
step, God's people must know everything before they 
could trust Him, and must understand all his reasons. 
Most ample grounds for faith lie in his general char- 
acter, so that we do not need to understand the special 
reasons for his particular acts. 



ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 327 

3. We are mere infants — miserably poor students of 
God's ways. His dealings on every side of us appear 
to us mysterious. Hence it should be expected that 
we shall fail to comprehend his reasons, and conse- 
quently we must confide in Him without this knowl- 
edge. Indeed, just here lies the virtue of faith, that it 
trusts God on the ground of his general character, 
while the mind can by no means comprehend his 
reasons for particular acts. Knowing enough of God 
to assure us that He must be good, our faith trusts Him, 
although the special evidence of goodness in particular 
cases may be wanting. 

This is a kind of faith which many do not seem to 
possess or to understand. Plainly they do not confide 
in God's dealings. 

4. It is manifestly needful that God should train 
Christians to exercise faith here and now; since in 
heaven we shall be equally unable to comprehend all 
his dealings. The holy in heaven will no doubt be- 
lieve in God; but they must do it by simple faith — not 
on the ground of a perfect knowledge of God's plans. 
What a trial of faith it must have been to the holy in 
heaven to see sin enter our world ! They could see 
few, perhaps none, of the reasons, before the final judg- 
ment, and must have fallen back upon the intuitive 
affirmations of their own minds. The utmost they 
could say was, We know God must be good and wise; 
therefore we must wait to see the results, and humbly 
trust. 

5. It is not best for parents to explain everything 
to their children, and, especially, they should not take 



328 ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 

the ground of requiring nothing of which they cannot 
explain all the reasons. Some profess to take this 
ground. It is, for many reasons, unwise. God does 
not train his children so. 

Faith is really natural to children. Yet some will 
not believe their children converted until they can be 
real theologians. This assumes that they must have 
all the great facts of the gospel system explained so 
that they can comprehend their philosophy before they 
believe them. Nothing can be further from the truth. 

6. It sometimes happens that those who are con- 
verted in childhood become students of theology in 
more advanced years, and then, getting proud of their 
philosophy and wisdom, lose their simple faith and 
relapse into infidelity. Now I do not object to their 
studying the philosophy of every doctrine up to the 
limits of human knowledge; but I do object to their 
casting away their faith in God. For there is no lack 
of substantial testimony to the great doctrines of the 
gospel. Their philosophy may stagger the wisest 
man; but the evidence of their truth ought to satisfy 
all, and alike the child and the philosopher. Last 
winter I was struck with this fact — which I mention 
because it seems to present one department of the 
evidences of Christianity in a clear light. One judge 
of the court said to another, I come to you with 
my assertion that I inwardly know Jesus Christ, and as 
truly and as well as I know you. Can you reject such 
testimony? What would the people of this State say 
.to you if you rejected such testimony on any other 
subject? Do you not every day let men testify to their 



ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 329 

own experience? The judge replied, "I cannot answer 
you. 

"Why, then," replied the other, "do you not believe 
this testimony? I can bring before you thousands who 
will testify to the same thing." 

7. Again I remark, it is of great use to study the 
truths of the gospel system theologically and philo- 
sophically, for thus you may reach a satisfactory expla- 
nation of many things which your heart knew, and 
clave to, and would have held fast till the hour of your 
death. It is a satisfaction to you, however, to see the 
beautiful harmony of these truths with each other, and 
with the known laws of mind and of all just govern- 
ment. 

Yet theological students sometimes decline in their 
piety, and for a reason which it were well for them to 
understand. One enters upon this study simple-hearted 
and confiding; but, by-and-by, study expands his views; 
he begins to be charmed with the explanations he is 
able to give of many things not understood before; 
becomes opinionated and proud; becomes ashamed of 
his former simple heart-faith, and thus stumbles fear- 
fully, if not fatally. If you will hold on with all your 
simple heart-confidence to the immutable love and 
wisdom of God, all will be well. But it never can be 
well to put your intellectual philosophy in the place of 
the simplicity of gospel faith. 

8. Herein is seen one reason why some students do 
not become pious. They determine that they will 
understand everything before they become Christians. 
Of course they are never converted. Quite in point, 



330 ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 

here, is a case I saw a few years since. Dr. B., an 
intelligent but not pious man, had a pious wife, who 
was leading her little daughter to Christ. The Doctor, 
seeing this, said to her, Why do you try to lead that 
child to Christ? I cannot understand these things 
myself, although I have been trying to understand 
them these many years; how, then, can she? But some 
days after, as he was riding out alone, he began to 
reflect on the matter; the truth flashed upon his mind, 
and he saw that neither of them could understand God 
unto perfection — not he any more than his child; while 
yet either of them could know enough to believe unto 
salvation. 

9. Again, gospel faith is voluntary — a will-trust. I 
recollect a case in my own circle of friends. I could 
not satisfy my mind about one of them. At length, 
after long struggling, I said, I will repel these things 
from my mind, and rule out these difficulties. My 
friend is honest and right; I will believe it, and will 
trust him none the less for these slanders. In this I 
was right. 

Towards God this course is always right. It is al- 
ways right to cast away from your mind all those dark 
suspicions about Him who can never make mistakes, 
and who is too good to purpose wrong. I once said 
to a sister in affliction, Can you not believe all this is for 
your good, though you cannot see how it is? She 
brightened up, saying, "I must believe in God, and I 
will." 

Who of you have this heart-faith ? Which of you 
will now commit yourself to Christ ? If the thing re- 



ON BELIEVING WITH THE HEART. 33 1 

quired were intellectual faith, I could explain to you 
how it is reached. It must be through searching the 
evidence in the case. But heart-faith must be reached 
by simple effort — by a voluntary purpose to trust. Ye 
who say, I cannot do this, bow your knees before God 
and commit yourself to his will; say, "O my Saviour! I 
take thee at thy word." This is a simple act of will. 



XVIII. 

ON BEING HOLY 



" Be ye holy, for I am holy. — I Peter i. 16. 

THIS precept enjoins holiness, and our first business 
should therefore be to inquire what holiness is. It is 
plain that the Bible uses the term as synonymous with 
moral purity ; but the question will still return, What 
is moral purity? 

I answer, Moral fitness; that which we see to be 
morally appropriate; it is, in substance, moral propriety; 
in other words — perfect love; such as God requires. It 
is sympathy with God and likeness to Him; — the state 
of mind that God has. Holiness in God is not a part 
of his nature in such a sense that it is not voluntary in 
Him, but it is a voluntary exercise and state of his 
mind. 

The same is true of all beings. Holiness is not a 
thing of nature as opposed to free action, but must al- 
ways be a free and a moral thing. It is not possible to 
any beings but such as are made in the image of God 
in the sense of being moral agents. They must have 
free-will, and then must voluntarily conform themselves 
to rectitude. Nothing less or other than a voluntary 
conformity of themselves to the moral law can be holi- 
ness. In them all, holiness is that state of mind which 



ON BEING HOLY. 333 

is precisely appropriate to their nature and relations. 
This state is expressed in one word — love, meaning by 
this, benevolence — good-will to all. When this term is 
used in its widest sense, it includes all moral duty. 
Hence this command to be holy requires that we bring 
ourselves into a moral adjustment to God and our en- 
tire moral duty. 

/. Why should we be holy ? 

God, as in our text, requires it. "It is written, 'Be 
ye holy, for I am holy.' " 

The context also combines with the text to enforce 
the duty by God's example. "As He who hath called 
you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversa- 
tion" — according to the ancient precept, "Be ye holy, 
for I am holy." Because I am holy, therefore be ye 
holy likewise. 

Our Lord enforced the same duty by the same reason 
(Matt. v. 48): "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your 
Father who is in heaven is perfect." 

II. What are the reasons of this requirement ? 

1. We cannot but require it of ourselves. Our own 
nature irresistibly demands it of us — his own individual 
conscience of every moral agent. There is no moral 
agent whose nature does not require holiness of him- 
self. Each one is so constituted that it is impossible 
he should not require this of himself. Hence there 
must always be a war in his own bosom unless he yields 
to this demand. He knows he ought to, and therefore, 
by a necessity as strong as his own nature, he must 
become holy, or fail of peace and conscious self- 
approval. 



334 ON BEING HOLY. 

No moral agent can respect himself unless he is 
holy. He may be careless and thoughtless, and may thus 
slide over and pass some of the self-reproach he must 
otherwise feel for unholiness; but he can never have 
any honest self-respect unless he behaves himself in a 
comely and decent way which he believes to be, in his 
circumstances, right. 

Need I urge that self-respect is a thing of very great 
importance ? Few r are fully aware how very important 
self-respect is to themselves and to others. Let a 
young man lose his self-respect, and what is he? What 
hope can you have of his stability and manliness? A 
young woman void of self-respect is no longer herself. 
Who does not know how completely she falls from her 
position as a virtuous woman ! 

This form of self-respect pertains to our relations to 
this world and to society. But suppose a moral agent 
in like manner to lose his self-respect towards God. 
How fearful must be the influence of this loss on his 
heart! How reckless of moral rectitude he becomes 
in all that pertains to his Maker! 

Or suppose God to lose his self-respect. Suppose 
He should cease to do what is honorable to Himself, and 
should no longer care to act in a manner worthy of his 
own esteem. How fearful must be the consequences 
first to Himself, and next to his whole universe ! Sup- 
pose Him to be morally impure, no longer adjusting 
his conduct to his own standard of right. It shocks us 
unutterably to conceive of God as acting in a way un- 
worthy of Himself. We know how keenly every sen- 



ON BEING HOLY. 335 

sitive and right-minded being feels the disgrace of hav- 
ing consciously acted in a way unworthy of himself. 
Those who have been conscious of this pain have often 
thought how God must feel, if] with his infinite sensi- 
bilities, He- should act unworthy of Himself. You 
sometimes experience this feeling, and therefore know 
how you loathe yourself and have no peace or rest in 
your soul. 

It is true that these considerations may have but 
little weight with those who know nothing of holiness, 
and who have never cultivated their own right feelings 
and sentiments; but those of you who have been near 
to God, and have had your ''hearts sprinkled from an 
evil conscience," must appreciate it. 

2. Another reason why we should be holy is, that 
God requires it of us. He has made us in his own 
image — like Himself in the attributes of intellect, sen- 
sibility, and free-will; and therefore, for the same rea- 
sons that make Him require holiness of Himself, He 
must require it of us. He must require it of us be- 
cause it is his duty to do so. 

He requires us to be holy because He cannot make 
us happy unless we will become holy. Our nature be- 
ing what it is, it is forever impossible that we should 
be happy without being holy. God is happy, because 
He is holy; He knows that we exist under the same law 
of nature and necessity; hence his benevolence prompts, 
nay compels, Him to use this necessary means of secur- 
ing our happiness. 



33^ ON BEING HOLY. 

REMARKS. 

1. Sinners know they are not holy. All know this, 
yet many often say, What have I done so very bad ? 
No matter whether very bad, (judged by the popular 
standard,) or not; you know you are not holy. Now 
do not suppose yourself to be holy as God is holy. 
You know there is none of this character in you. How 
muchsoever confused men's sentiments on this subject 
may be, it is universally true that they conceive of God 
as being holy in a sense in which they are not them- 
selves. Whatever they may say of it, they know this. 

2. The hope that unconverted people often have 
that they shall be saved, is utterly without foundation. 
Many try to think they have not done anything so bad 
that they deserve to be sent to hell! 

How strange that such men should think themselves 
fit for heaven! Christ said, " Marvel not that I said 
unto you, Ye must be born again." No marvel that 
men should need a radical change! Hearts so foreign 
from love, so full of selfishness — how can such hearts 
dwell in heaven ! The unholy man's hope of heaven — 
how utterly absurd ! What nonsense that men should 
cherish such hopes without any holiness to fit them for 
it! Just as if heaven were a certain place, of no pecu- 
liar character, and to go there would be to ensure one's 
bliss! You know better! You know something about 
the business and the delights of the Christian — you 
know they are such as you delight not in. The Sab- 
bath is no privilege to you. Rather you exclaim, " Be- 
hold, what a weariness is it!" Social worship has no 



ON BEING HOLY. 337 

spiritual attractions for you. How, then, can you sup- 
pose that heaven would be a world of joy to you? 

3. Many who know they must become holy, are yet 
very ignorant of the way in which they are to become 
so. Having begun in the Spirit, they try to become 
perfect in the flesh. Their reliance is more on resolu- 
tions, than on Christ embraced by faith. A leading 
minister of the Presbyterian church, not long since, 
heard a sermon showing that men are sanctified by re- 
ceiving Christ into the heart by faith. He remarked, 
"We are just beginning to receive this doctrine. We 
have a long time been trying to become holy by reso- 
lutions." 

Of many it is true that all their efforts are by works 
of law. They seem to know that all the efforts they 
make without Christ avail nothing, save only sin. 

4. Pardon without holiness is impossible, in this 
sense: that the heart must turn from its sins to God 
before it can be forgiven. Repentance is really noth- 
ing more or less than turning from sin to holiness; and 
who does not know that the Scriptures teach that re- 
pentance must* precede pardon? Reversing this order 
would ruin the sinner. The idea that God can re- 
verse it, works only ruin to those who accept it. 

5. The command to be holy implies the practica- 
bility of becoming so. I meet with some professed. 
Christians who on this subject have really no hope. 
They feel the need of. being holy, but they are in de- 
spair of attaining it before they die. Now these Chris- 
tians claim to be believers, but they are not. The 
grand difficulty in their case is, that they do not be- 

*5 



338 ON BEING HOLY. 

lieve God's word of promise. They have no faith that 
men can become holy in this life, yet they say they 
believe in Christ. Yet what is Christ if not a Saviour ? 
A Saviour from what, if not from sin ? Is it not ex- 
pressly said, " Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He 
shall save his people from their sins"? What is Christ 
to do ? Does He save his people in their sins ? Shall 
He not rather save them from their sins, and " sanc- 
tify them wholly," and "redeem them unto Himself as 
a peculiar people, zealous of good works"? Does it 
not seem strange that so many profess to be believers 
in Christ, but yet avow that they do not believe the 
plainest things said in the Bible of Christ? They 
claim to be believers! What! are they believers, gos- 
pel-believers, and yet do not believe what Christ says? 
Nay more, they tell you it is dangerous to believe that 
you can be holy in this world ! Said a Unitarian min- 
ister, "How strange that the Orthodox should object 
to sanctification in this life"! He had been reading 
the views presented here, and said, "Why can they 
object? If they profess to believe that Jesus is a 
divine Saviour, and that in Him all fulness dwells, — 
why should they object? They should either give up 
their doctrine of a divine Saviour, and deny that He 
is able to save to the uttermost, and abandon their 
ideas of a divine Redeemer, or admit your views to be 
true" — and certainly there seems to be force in his 
reasoning. 

I have never been more struck with this great idea — 
salvation from sinning, by Jesus Christ — than I have 
during the past winter. I found it everywhere as I 



ON BEING HOLY. 339 

read the New Testament, and indeed in the Old Testa- 
ment also. Oh, how strange that the church should 
be fighting the idea of becoming holy through Jesus 
Christ! How strange that they should insist that He 
will do no such thing! Is it not wonderful? 

6. Christ's promises and relations to his people 
imply a pledge of all the help we need. The entire 
gospel scheme is adapted to men — not in the sense of 
conniving at their weakness, but of really helping 
them out of it. It does not say, " Go on in your sins;" 
does not smooth this path by saying, " No man can 
live sinless in this world;" but it says, "Take hold of 
Christ's strength, and He will help you." It does not 
encourage you to hold on in sinning, but it urges you 
to take hold of Christ for all the help you need to 
overcome the practical difficulties in your way. Its lan- 
guage is, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my 
strength is made perfect in weakness." 

While you affirm your moral obligation, you are 
more and more impressed with your moral weakness. 
But this weakness is what Christ counterbalances with 
his strength. In the extremest weakness, his strength 
finds largest scope and fullest development. "As thy 
day, so shalt thy strength be" — when thou shalt thor- 
oughly cast thyself on the arm of the Mighty One. 

Hence the command to be holy is no apology for 
despondency, but should really encourage us to take 
hold of the strength promised to meet human weak- 
ness. 

7. God sympathizes with every honest effort we 
make to become holy. Of course He does; how can 



34-0 ON BEING HOLY. 

He fail to do so? Wherever He sees a moral struggle 
in any soul, it interests Him exceedingly. He sympa- 
thizes infinitely more deeply than we do. And yet 
some of us know how deeply we sympathize where we 
see a convert getting hold of the idea of sanctification 
by Christ. In some such cases I have known the joy 
of older Christians to be really inexpressible. When 
I have seen gospel ministers getting hold of the idea 
of sanctification, and struggling to reach the experience 
of that idea, I have said to myself, If we can feel so 
deeply in view of such a struggle, how much more 
must God feel ! Do you not think God feels ? Ah, 
indeed, in every pulse of his infinite and boundless 
sensibility ! 

8. If we become partakers of his holiness, we are 
made sure of the river of his pleasures ! This comes 
both of the nature of the case and of the revealed 
laws of his kingdom. Holiness becomes God's house 
forever. And while it is fearfully true that, without 
holiness, no man shall see the Lord, it is delightfully 
sure that the holy shall see Him and enjoy spiritual 
blessedness in his presence. 

9. All men will sometimes feel the necessity of this 
holiness. In some cases, it is felt most deeply. Last 
winter I became acquainted with a woman, hopefully 
a Christian, but who had heard very little on this sub- 
ject. She had been converted under circumstances 
where the great desolation and moral darkness became 
the immediate occasion of her awakening. From such 
surroundings, she had struggled up into the light. 
Yet when she came to hear the real gospel, and the 



ON BEING HOLY. 34 1 

way of holiness was opened to her mind, it was won- 
derful to see how she did grasp and devour this blessed 
bread of life! It met a great void in her spiritual 
nature, and her soul exulted in it with exceeding joy. 

You often feel these struggles. You know you need 
something more and higher; you cannot be satisfied 
with your present state; you are conscious something 
is wrong between your soul and God, and you have a 
deep conviction that you need more holiness. Why, 
then, do you not lay hold of this hope set before you 
in the gospel ? 

10. There is no rest short of being holy. Many 
try to find rest in something less, but they are sure to 
fail. They suspend further efforts, and would fain be- 
lieve they shall have rest where they are; but all such 
hope is vain. There can be no rest short of coming 
into sympathy with God and into spiritual union with 
Jesus Christ. 

ii. Many insanely suppose that when they come 
to die, they shall be sanctified and prepared for heaven. 
Let us sit down by the bedside of such a man — one 
who expects to be sanctified in death. What is he 
doing? What progress is he making? Would you 
speak kindly to him and inquire after his spiritual pro- 
gress? But you must not allude to religion — the doc- 
tor would not like to have you. He says it might re- 
tard the man's recovery. He wants his mind to be 
perfectly quiet and unthinking. It will not do there- 
fore even to whisper the name of Jesus ! And is it 
supposable that this dying man is taking hold vigor- 
ously of that blessed name which you may not even 



342 ON BEING HOLY. 

whisper in his ear? Is he gaining the victory over the 
world by faith in the Lamb of God? Do you judge 
from what you see and hear that his soul is in a mighty 
struggle with the powers of selfishness and sin, — a 
struggle in which faith in Jesus ensures the victory? 
Ah! he sinks — he goes down, lower and lower; some- 
times all consciousness seems to be lost; — and can you 
think that, in these dying hours, his soul is entering 
into sympathy with Christ — is bursting away from the 
bands of temptation, and taking hold, with a mighty 
grasp, of those exceeding great and precious promises? 
I do not ask you what you admit as to the possibility 
of miracles on a death-bed; but I ask if you think the 
circumstances are favorable for that mental effort which 
the nature of the case demands in renouncing sin and 
in receiving Jesus Christ by faith for sanctification. 

12. No man has any right to hope unless he is 
really committed to holiness, and in all honesty and 
earnestness intends to live so. If he does not intend 
to live a holy life, let him know that he is not in the 
way to heaven. If he is in his sins and indulges him- 
self in sinning, by what right or reason can he sup- 
pose himself travelling towards the abodes of infinite 
purity? If he hopes for heaven at the end of such a 
life, he is egregiously self-deceived. 

Is not every person in this house most fully con- 
vinced that he must become holy if he would be saved ? 
Notwithstanding all the looseness of your views on this 
subject, do you not know that you must be holy as you 
would find a home in heaven ? 

Do you believe that in any practical sense you really 



ON BEING HOLY. 343 

can become holy? Doubtless you do; — for where 
would you be if you knew you must be holy and yet 
know equally well that you cannot be? You are not 
in this dilemma. You cannot bring yourself to think 
that the ever blessed God has ever shut up his children 
in a dilemma so hopeless. 

The case with you probably is, that you know you 
ought to become holy, but you are not ready to be just 
now. If I should call on the younger classes, they 
would say, I have so much to do, how can I? Cer- 
tainly I am not ready now. The middle-aged also are 
equally unprepared yet. The great evil is that men 
will not act on their own convictions. They have convic- 
tions; they know what they ought to do, and what it 
is infinitely wicked for them not to do, yet they do it 
not. There they stop. They stop, not in the point 
of gospel rest, but in the point where impenitent sin- 
ners often stop — convicted of sin, but not acting up to 
their convictions of duty. Suppose one should come 
to you and try to hire you to make no further effort to 
become more holy; could you be hired to any such 
committal ? It would affect you very much as it would 
have done when you were first convicted of sin, if some 
one had tried to hire you to defer all effort to come to 
Christ for a score of years longer. You would have 
cried out, "Get thee behind me, Satan," — "don't tempt 
me to sell my soul!" Satan took a more cunning 
course. He only said, Waive it just now: let it lie over 
till you find a convenient season. So offered, the bait 
took, and you swallowed it; and so thousands are put- 
ting off their effort to become holy. You would be 



344 ON BEING HOLY. 

horror-stricken with the proposal to put off all effort 
to become holy for ten years longer; but the thought 
of putting over for an indefinite time — supposed to be 
not very long — does not startle you at all. 

O my hearers, what shall the end be of such pro- 
crastination? May it not be that in your real heart 
you have no love of holiness, and have never sought it 
as the pearl of great price ? Can it be well for you to 
go on still in a course that leads you farther every day 
from God ? Will you forget that He is holy, and that, 
if you would behold his face in peace, you too must 
become holy ? 



XIX. 
ON SELF-DENIAL. 



"And he said unto them all, If any man will come after me, let 
him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." — Luke 
ix. 23. 

IN order to understand this solemn declaration of our 
Lord, the first important point to be ascertained is 
this, What is the true idea of taking up the cross and 
denying one' s self? 

This question presupposes the existence of appe- 
tites and propensities j^vhich call for indulgence, and 
then it means, obviously, that in some cases this in- 
dulgence must be refused. This is the precise point of 
the text — a man who will follow Christ must deny 
himself in the sense of denying the gratification of all 
appetites and propensities whenever and how far so- 
ever such gratifications are forbidden by the law of 
benevolence. All impulses towards self-indulgence, 
whether in the line of avoiding things we fear or seek- 
ing things we love, must be denied, and ruled down 
by a determined will, whenever indulgence is not de- 
manded, but is forbidden by the law of love. Within 
the limits of God's law, these constitutional appetites 
may be indulged; beyond those limits, they must be 
denied. At whatever point they run counter to the 
15* 



346 ON SELF-DENIAL. 

law of love to God or love to man, they must be put 
down. 

The thing demanded, therefore, by this law of 
Christ's kingdom is, that you consult and obey the will 
of Christ in this whole matter of self-indulgence; that 
you obey, neither desire nor appetite — that you never 
gratify your love of approbation — never seek any forms 
of personal enjoyment in disobedience to Christ. You 
must never do this where duty is known, lest you dis- 
please God, for plainly He has rightful control over all 
your powers. 

Under this principle you must do all your duty to 
your fellow-men — whether to their bodies or to their 
souls, denying all those worldly desires and propen- 
sities which would conflict with this duty, making 
Jesus Christ Himself your model and his expressed 
will your perpetual rule. 

The question will arise in many minds, Why does 
Christ demand of us self-denial ? ^ 

Is it because God loves to see us self-mortified — be- 
cause He takes pleasure in crucifying the sensibilities 
to enjoyment which He has given us? By no means. 
But the true answer is to be found in the fact that He 
has made us rational and moral beings — our rational 
faculties being intended for the control of our entire 
voluntary activities, and our moral nature rendering us 
properly responsible for the self-control which God re- 
quires. In the lower orders of creation around us, we 
see animals void of moral responsibility because they 
are constituted irrational and incapable of responsible 
moral action. To them, propensity must be law, be- 



ON SELF-DENIAL. 347 

cause they can know no other. But we have a higher 
law to obey than they. Their highest good is promo- 
ted by their obedience to mere physical law; but not 
so with us. Our sensibilities are blind, and therefore 
were never intended to be our rule of life. To supply 
such a rule, God has given us intelligence and con- 
science. Appetite, therefore, cannot be our rule, 
while it can and must be the rule of all the lower, irra- 
tional animals. 

Now it is a fact that our sensibilities are out of har- 
mony with our conscience, often clamoring for indul- 
gence which both reason and conscience forbid. 

If we give ourselves up to the sway of appetite and 
unguided sensibility, we are surely misled. These ap- 
petites grow worse by indulgence; a fact which of itself 
shows that God never intended them to be our rule. 
Often artificial appetites are formed; of such a nature, 
moreover, as to be exceedingly pernicious in their ef- 
fects. 

Hence we are thrown into a state of warfare. Con- 
stant appeals are made to us to arouse our propensities 
to indulgence; and, over against these, constant ap- 
peals are made by the law of God and the voice of our 
reason, urging us to deny ourselves and find our high- 
est good in obeying God. God and reason require us 
to withstand the claims of appetite sternly and firmly. 
Note here that God does not require this withstanding, 
without vouchsafing his aid in the conflict. It is re- 
markable how the resolute opposition of any appetite, 
in the name of Christ and under the demands of con- 
science, will readily overcome it. Cases often occur in 



34^ ON SELF-DENIAL. 

which the most clamorous and despotic of these arti- 
ficial appetites are ruled down by the will, under the 
demands of conscience and with the help of God. At 
once they lie all subdued, and the mind remains in 
sweet peace. 

Here let us consider more attentively that we are 
conscious of having a spiritual and moral nature as 
well as a physical. We have a conscience, and we 
have affections correlated to God as truly as we have 
affections correlated to earthly things. There is a 
beauty in holiness, and there are things correlated to 
our spiritual tastes as truly as to our physical. Under 
proper care and effort, our religious nature may be de- 
veloped towards God, even as our physical nature is 
towards earthly objects. We are social beings in our 
earthly relations, and not less so in our spiritual nature. 
We are social spiritually as well as physically, though 
we may not be aware of it, because our spiritual soci- 
ality may have been utterly uncultivated and undevel- 
oped. But we really need divine communion with God 
and social fellowship with our Infinite Maker. Prior 
to regeneration this moral capacity of ours is a waste. 
All men have a conscience and may be aware of it, 
but they have no spiritual affections towards God, and 
hence they assume that religion must be a very dry 
thing. They cannot see how they can enjoy God's 
presence and prayer. They are all awake to earthly 
fellowship and friendship, but dead to fellowship and 
friendship with God. Their love in the form of affec- 
tion has been drawn out towards man, but not towards 
God. They seem not aware that they have a nature 



ON SELF-DENIAL. 349 

capable of being developed in loving affections towards 
their divine Father. Hence they do not see how they 
can ever enjoy religion and religious duties. The cold- 
ness of death comes over their souls when they think 
of it. 

This spiritual side of our nature needs to be culti- 
vated. It has been so long kept back and crushed 
down, it greatly needs to be brought up. But, in 
order to do this and develop the spiritual side of our 
nature, it is indispensable that the worldly side be 
crushed and brought under. For flesh is a dangerous 
foe to grace. There is no harmony, but only repel- 
lency and antagonism, between the earthly affections 
and the heavenly. Unless we subdue the flesh we shall 
die. It is only when, through the Spirit, we mortify 
the deeds of the body that we can live. 

The Roman church has in past ages distinguished 
itself for its mortifications of the flesh — externally 
considered. These mortifications have thrown off the 
Protestant world into the opposite extreme. Among 
all the Protestant sermons I have heard, I do not rec- 
ollect one on the subject of bearing the cross and de- 
nying one's self. I must think that this subject is 
exceedingly neglected among our Protestant churches. 
Papal Rome having run wild with this idea, Protestants 
have taken fright and run off into the opposite ex- 
treme. Therefore we need a special effort to guard 
against this tendency and to bring us back to reason, 
sense, and Scripture. 

Until I was converted I never knew that I had any 
religious affections. I did not even know that I had 



350 ON SELF-DENIAL. 

any capacity for spontaneous, deep, outgushing emo- 
tions towards God. This was indeed a dark and fear- 
ful ignorance, and you may readily suppose I knew lit- 
tle of real joy while my soul was so perfectly ignorant 
of the very idea of real spiritual joy. But, I take it, 
this absence of all right ideas of God is by no means 
uncommon. If you search, you will find this to be the 
common experience of unconverted men. 

We all know that the gratification of our animal 
nature is pleasure — not of the highest sort indeed, yet 
it is a kind of pleasure. How much more must the 
gratification of our nobler moral affections be joyful! 
When the soul comes to feast on its spiritual affections, 
it begins to taste real happiness — a bliss like that of 
heaven! I fear many have never comprehended what 
the Bible means by "blessedness." 

Now let it be well considered that the spiritual side 
of our nature can be developed and gratified only by a 
benevolent crossing of our appetites — a crossing of 
them, I mean, under the demands of real benevolence 
towards our fellow-men and towards God. This must 
be our aim; for if we make our personal happiness the 
end, we can never attain to the exalted joy of true fel- 
lowship with God. 

It is curious to see how the sensibility is related to 
self-denial, so that denying ourselves from right motives 
becomes the natural and necessary means of develop- 
ing our spiritual affections. Beginning with taking up 
the cross, one goes on, from step to step, ruling down 
self-indulgences and self-gratification, and opening his 



ON SELF-DENIAL. 35 I 

heart more and more to fellowship with God and to the 
riper experience of his love. 

A further reason why men should deny themselves, 
is that it is intrinsically right. The lower appetites 
ought not to govern us; the higher laws of our nature 
ought to. The evidence of this is simply the evidence 
which proves it to be the duty of beings created rational 
to use their reason, and not degrade themselves down 
to the level of beasts. 

Another reason is that we can well afford it, for we 
are surely the gainers by it. I admit that when we re- 
sist and deny the demands of self-indulgence, it goes a 
short way, and on a small scale, against happiness ; but 
on the spiritual side we gain immensely, and immensely 
more than we lose. The satisfaction which arises from 
real self-denial is precious. It is rich in quality and 
deep and broad as the ocean in amount. 

Many think that if they would find pleasure they 
must seek it directly and make it their direct object, 
seeking it moreover in the gratification of their appe- 
tites. They seem to know no other form of happiness 
but this. It would seem that they never have con- 
ceived the idea that the only way to enjoy themselves 
really is to deny self, fully up to the demands of right, 
reason, and of God's revealed will. Yet this is the 
most essential law of real happiness. Where shunning 
the cross begins, true religion ends. You may pray in 
your family, you may sternly rebuke sin wherever it is 
disagreeable to yourself, and do all this without Chris- 
tian self-denial; but while living in habits of self-indul- 
gence, you cannot stand up for Christ and do your duty 



352 ON SELF-DENIAL. 

everywhere manfully, and especially you will be all 
weakness when the path of duty leads you where your 
feelings will be wounded. And no man can expect to 
escape such emergencies always. If, then, you would 
maintain the path of duty without swerving, and enjoy 
real life and blessedness, you must determine to deny 
yourself wherever God and reason demand it, and fully 
up to the extent of those demands. So will you gain 
more than you can lose. If you are firm and de- 
termined, your path will be easy and joyous. 

It often happens that the entire drift of a Christian's 
feelings is towards self-indulgence, so that if he allowed 
himself to be guided by his feelings he would surely 
make shipwreck of his soul. God, on his part, shuts 
him up to simple faith. Then if he follows the Lord's 
guidance, he will triumph, and all suddenly his "soul is 
like the chariots of Amminadab." A case in point is 
now before my mind of a man who once lived here. 
After a period of Christian life, he went from our place, 
backslid from God sorely, became almost an infidel, quite 
a Swedenborgian, became wealthy, and just when you 
might suppose him to have gained the heights of earthly 
happiness, and when he supposed so himself, he became, 
instead, completely wretched. He was forced to fall 
back upon himself, and say, I must return to God and 
do his will — the whole of it, whatever it may be, or I 
shall utterly perish. I will, said he, put an extinguisher 
upon every worldly affection. Nothing that is hostile 
to God's will shall be tolerated a moment. No sooner 
had he done this, than all his religious life and joys 
came back again. Then his wife and neighbors began 



"ON SELF-DENIAL. 353 

to say of him, "He is indeed a new man in Christ 
Jesus." From that day, the peace of God ruled in his 
heart, and his cup of joy was full to overflowing. Any 
man, therefore, can afford to deny himself, since thereby 
he opens his heart to the joys of immortal life and 
peace. This is the only way of real happiness. 

This subject explains many of the otherwise strange 
facts of Christian experience. Here is one man who 
cannot pray before his family. Inquire more deeply 
into his case, and you will probably find that he can- 
not enjoy anything in religious duty. Inquire yet further 
into the cause, and you will find that he does not deny 
himself, but lives under the laws of self-indulgence. 
Poor man, he cannot please God so. 

Another cannot come out and confess Christ before 
men. The truth probably is that he has not made up 
his mind to deny himself at all. On the contrary, he 
really denies Christ. He shuns the cross. Ah, that is 
not the way to heaven. In that path you can have no 
communion with God. Try it a thousand times, and 
you will still find the same result, — no peace, and no 
communion with God. 

Our text says, "Take up your cross daily." So you 
must. This is the only possible way of holy living. 
And it must be done firmly, sternly, and continually. 
It must be made your life-work, save as you gain a res- 
pite by substantial victory over your propensities to 
self-indulgence. Let a man attempt to rule down the 
appetite for alcoholic drinks, and do it at special sea- 
sons only, say once a day, or once in a week, while 
all the rest of the time he gives himself to full in- 



354 0N SELF-DENIAL. 

dulgence, he must utterly fail. He never can succeed 
unless he takes up his cross daily and bears it all the 
time. Absolutely he must persevere, or his efforts are 
all for naught. Precisely in proportion as we sternly 
take up our cross, it grows light and we grow strong to 
bear it. When a man indulges himself in tobacco, each 
day's indulgence makes him more a slave. On the 
contrary, each successive day's abstinence makes him 
more a conqueror. If a man resolutely declares, By 
the help of God, no lust, no appetite, shall have 
dominion over me, then, holding on, he comes off con- 
queror. The more firmly you adhere to this principle, 
and the more steadily you rule down the clamors for 
self-indulgence, so much the more speedily and surely 
do you gain the victory. Although at first you take 
up this work tremblingly, if you hold on, you will gain 
ground. These appetites will take less and less hold 
upon you. Bearing your cross will itself make you 
strong for your toil in the Christian life. 

Shunning the cross grieves the Spirit. If you neglect 
duty, if you fail to pray in your family, omitting it per- 
haps because you have company present, you may be 
very sure the Spirit of God is grieved. Satan throws 
these temptations in your path, and you give him every 
advantage against you. You will perhaps try to pray 
while in this state; but, oh, God is not with you! You 
have been placed where you should have done some 
things unpleasant to flesh and blood; you evaded the 
claims of present duty; you went to bed at night with- 
out doing your duty. How was it then with your soul ? 
Did not dark clouds shut off the light of God's face? 



ON SELF-DENIAL. 355 

Did you have any comfort of his presence? or any 
communion with your Saviour? Pause and ask your 
heart for the answer. 

REMARKS. 

1. So long as the religious sensibilities are not de- 
veloped, men will of course feel a strong demand for 
worldly affections. What do they know about the re- 
ligious affections of the heart? What do they know 
of real love to God, or of the consciousness of the 
Spirit's witness to their hearts that they are God's 
children? Really nothing. They have never crossed 
their sensual propensities. Of course they have not 
taken the first step towards developing the heavenly 
affections of the heart. Consequently all their enjoy- 
ments are earthly. Their hearts are only below. But 
just in proportion as they deny themselves do they fall 
into adjustment to their spiritual nature. 

2. It is a great and blessed thing for the Christian 
to find his nature conformed progressively more and 
more to God; to find it manifestly coming around right, 
and adjusting itself, under divine grace, to the demands 
of benevolence. 

3. Crossbearing persisted in, brings out a ripe spir- 
itual culture. The soul longs intensely for spiritual 
manifestations, and loves communion with God. Hear 
him say, How sweet the memory of those scenes when 
my soul lay low before God ! How did my heart enjoy 
his presence ! Now I am always sensible of an aching 
void unless God be there. 

4. When men go about to seek enjoyment as an 



356 ON SELF-DENIAL. 

end, they surely miss it. All such seeking must cer- 
tainly be in vain. Benevolence leads the soul out of 
itself, and sets it upon making others happy. So real 
blessedness comes. 

5. Your usefulness as Christians will be as your 
crossbearing and as your firmness in this course of life; 
for your knowledge in spiritual things, your spiritual 
vitality, your communion with God and, all in one word, 
your aid from the Holy Ghost, must turn upon the 
fidelity with which you deny yourself. 

6. If you have once known the blessedness of spir- 
itual life, and your heart has been moulded into the 
image of the heavenly, you can no longer return to the 
miserable flesh-pots of Egypt. There is no longer any 
possibility of your enjoying earthly things as the por- 
tion of your soul. Let that be considered settled. 
Abandon at once and forever all further thought of 
finding your joys in worldly, selfish indulgences. 

7. To the young, let me say, your sensibilities are 
quick, and lean to worldly things. Now is the time for 
you to be stern in dealing with your self-indulgent 
spirit before you have gone too far ever to succeed. 
Are you strongly tempted to give way to self-indul- 
gence ? Remember it is an unalterable law of your 
nature that you must seek your peace and blessedness 
in God. You cannot find it elsewhere. You must have 
Jesus for your friend, or be eternally friendless. Your 
very nature demands that you seek God as your God — 
the King of your life — the Portion of your soul for hap- 
piness. You cannot find Him such to you, save as you 



ON SELF-DENIAL. 357 

deny yourself, take up your daily cross, and follow 
Jesus. 

8. To those of you who, being yet in your sins, 
cannot conceive how you can ever enjoy God, and can- 
not even imagine how your heart can cleave to God, 
and call Him a thousand endearing names, and pour out 
your heart in love to Jesus, let me beg of you to con- 
sider that there is such communion with God — there 
is such joy of his presence, and you may have it at the 
the price of self-denial and whole-hearted devotion to 
Jesus; — not otherwise. And why should you not make 
this choice ? Already you are saying, Every cup of 
worldly pleasure is blasted — dried up and worthless. 
Then let them go. Bid them away, and make the bet- 
ter choice of pleasures that are purer far, and better, 
and which endure forever. 



XX. 

ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 



"Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is 
that to thee? Follow thou me." — John xxi. 22. 

THESE words Christ spake to Peter. He had pre- 
viously given Peter to understand that in his ad- 
vanced life his liberty would be restrained, and that he 
would have the honor of glorifying .God by a martyr's 
death. A question arose in Peter's mind — more curi- 
ous than wise — how it would fare with his fellow-disci- 
ple, John. So he inquires: "Lord, what shall this 
man do?" Gently rebuking this idle inquisitiveness, 
Jesus replied, " If I will that he tarry till I come, what 
is that to thee? Follow thou Me." 

This reply involves a principle, and hence it has a 
wide practical application. It is really addressed to us. 

Assuming it to be thus addressed to all at the pres- 
ent day, what does it teach ? What does Jesus say to 

us? 

Suppose He stood where I do this moment, and you 
knew it to be Jesus Himself, and saw that He was pre- 
paring to speak. You see the halo of glory around 
his head; you note the blending of meekness and maj- 
esty that identifies Him most fully as one like unto the 
Son of God, and your whole soul is moved within you 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 359 

to catch every word He may utter. Oh, what an earn- 
est expectation ! If He were to speak in this house, 
you would hear the ticking of that clock more plainly 
than you now do. If you chanced not to catch every 
word distinctly, you would ask one and another, What 
did He say? What was that? 

He speaks, you observe, in the form of a positive 
command; what is this command? Remember, if it 
be the Lord Jesus Christ, He has the right to com- 
mand. Who else in earth or heaven has this right 
more absolutely than He? It must be of the utmost 
consequence to us to know what He does command 
us. Whatever it be, it must vitally affect our well- 
being both to know and to do it. Words from one so 
benevolent must be for our good. Certainly, He never 
did speak but He said things for the good of those to 
whom Fie spake. 

It must also be for the general good; for the Great 
King and Lord of all never overlooks what pertains to 
the general good. 

Moreover, it must be safe to obey. Certainly; how 
can it be otherwise ? Did it ever happen that any man 
obeyed Him and found it unsafe? 

Of course it must be our DUTY to obey. How can 
it be that Christ shall ever command us, and Ave be not 
bound solemnly to obey Him? 

Also, it must be possible for us to obey. Did Christ 
ever enjoin impracticable things? Could He possibly 
do a thing so unreasonable? 

All these points must be assumed and admitted. 
How can we ever doubt a moment on any one of them ? 



360 ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 

This, then, is the state of the case. What, now, 
should be the attitude of our minds? Manifestly this, 
Let Him speak; we will surely listen and obey. What 
does He say? Every word He says, I know, will be 
infinitely good. Let me catch every intimation of his 
will. " His words shall be sweeter to my taste than 
honey or the honey-comb." 

But will any of you turn away, saying, " I don't care 
what He says"? Will you not rather feel this, "Let 
Him say what He will, it is all good, and I will surely 
hear and obey it"? 

If such be your attitude towards Him, then we are 
ready to examine what He says. Observe, He gives us 
sometliing to be done, and, moreover, something to be 
done by yourself. No matter just now to you what 
others may do, or what God's providence may allot to 
them. "What is that to thee?" It has always been 
the temptation of the human heart to look at the 
duties of others rather than one's own. You must re- 
sist and put down this temptation. Christ has work 
for you to do, and it becomes you to address yourself 
earnestly to do it. Observe, also, that it is to be done 
now. He gives you no furlough, not even to go home 
and bid farewell to those of your house. He can take 
no excuse for delay. 

Now let us ask, What is this thing which He re- 
quires? He says, "Follow thou Me." What does this 
mean? Must I leave my home? Must I abandon my 
business? Am I to change my residence? Am I to 
follow Him all over the land? 

The latter meaning was plainly the true one when 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 36 1 

Jesus dwelt among men in human flesh. He then 
called certain men to follow Him as his servants and 
disciples, and they were to attend Him in all his jour- 
neyings — to go where He went and to stop where He 
stopped. They were to aid Him in his missionary 
work. 

Now, Christ is no longer here in human flesh; and 
therefore following Him cannot have precisely that 
physical sense. Yet now, no less than then, it implies 
that you obey his revealed will, and do the things that 
please Him. Now, you are to imitate his example 
and follow his instructions. By various methods, He 
still makes known his will, and you are to follow 
whithersoever He leads. You must accept Him as the 
Captain of your salvation, and let his laws control all 
your life. He comes to save his people from their 
sins and from the ruin that sin, unforgiven, must bring 
down; and you must accept Him as such a Saviour. 
This is involved in following Him. 

But let us here inquire somewhat more fully, What 
is implied in obeying this command f 

Of course it implies confidence in Him who com- 
mands — a confidence in the exercise of which you 
commit yourself fully to obey Him and trust all conse- 
quences to his disposal. There can be no hearty, 
cheerful obedience without this implicit confidence. 

It implies, also, a willingness to be saved by Him — 
that is, saved from sin. You make no reservation of 
favorite indulgences; you go against all sin and set 
yourself earnestly to withstand every sort of tempta- 
tion. 
16 



362 ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 

It involves also a present decision to follow Him 
through evil or good report — whatever the effect may 
be on your reputation. You are ready to make sacri- 
fices for Christ, rejoicing to be counted worthy to suf- 
fer shame for his name. 

It is a very common fault to admit what Christ re- 
quires, yet to fail very much in doing it. This is say- 
ing, I go, sir, — but going not. Such a man does not 
follow Christ. 

He requires immediate action. He has work for you 
to do to-day, and He demands of you that you com- 
mit yourself to full obedience. 

Let us next inquire, Why shall we follow Him ? 

Suppose Christ were here personally and from this 
desk announced this command, Follow thou Me. 
Would you ask to know why ? You could very soon 
assign some weighty reasons. Your own mind would 
suggest them. And do you know any reasons why 
you should not follow Him ? I presume it is settled in 
every mind why you should obey this command, now 
and here, without one moment's delay. Is there 
any of you that can assign any reason why you should 
not obey this command? Does any of you doubt at 
all whether this be your duty? Can you think of any 
reason why it is not? 

Then it must be your duty, and you ought to do it. 
The matter should lie in your mind thus, If this is my 
duty, of course I must do it at once. Doing duty is 
the business of my life. 

You owe it to Jesus Christ to follow Him. If you 
are a student, none the less should you follow Jesus 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 363 

everywhere. See that young man. You ask him why 
he goes to college; what does he say? Does he say, 
Because I would be better prepared to teach men about 
Jesus Christ? Coming to his teachers, does he say, 
Give me an education; gi\ r e me all the discipline of 
mind and heart you can, that I may be the better able to 
teach and preach Jesus Christ? Tell me all you know 
of Christ; pray for me that God may teach my heart 
the whole gospel; is this what he says? In this sort 
of way should a Christian student follow Christ. 

Do you not owe this to Him? Can any one of you 
deny this? Have you any right to live to yourselves? 
If you could gain some good for the moment, could 
you think it right to have your own way, and disown 
Christ? What if you were to gain the w r hole world 
and lose your own soul? 

You owe it to yourself to take care of your own 
soul. God lays on you the responsibility of saving 
your own soul, and you must bear it. No man can 
bear that responsibility for you. You must bear it for 
yourself alone. 

You owe it to your friends to follow Christ. You 
have friends over whom you may exert a precious in- 
fluence. For their sakes you ought to know Christ, 
that you may lead them also to follow Him. You 
have friends also who have done much for you and 
have loved you much. It is due from you to them 
that you should follow Christ. You owe it to your 
father and mother. Are they praying souls? It is 
due to the sympathy they feel for you and to the 
strong desire they have for your salvation. If they 



364 ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 

have never prayed, it is time they did, and time that 
you should lead them to Christ. 

You owe it to the whole world. There are millions 
who know not Jesus, some of whom you might teach 
so that thev shall not die and never have known Him. 

One more thought as to yourself. Such as you 
make yourself by obeying or not obeying this precept, 
you will be to all eternity. What j^ou do in this mat- 
ter will have its fruits on your destiny long after the 
sun and stars shall have faded away. You have no 
right to live so that, when you die, men shall say, 
There goes from earth one nuisance, and hell has more 
sin in it now than it ever had before. 

Again: this is the only path of peace. If you 
would have peace, you must seek and find it here. 
Here thousands have found it; but none ever found it 
anywhere else. 

Jesus Christ says to you, "Follow thou Me." Will 
you set yourself to find some excuse ? What are your 
excuses ? 

Do you say, "There are so many opinions among 
men, I do not know what to do" ? 

Ah ! but you do know. It is only a pitiful pretence 
when you say you don't know your duty. Who of 
you does not know enough to be simple-hearted and 
to go on in duty and please God? No opinions of 
men need stumble you if you simply follow Christ. 
You talk about the various opinions among Christian 
sects; — but, differ much as they may in lesser matters, 
on the great things of salvation they are all agreed. 
They all agree essentially, that to follow Christ in con- 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 365 

fidence and simple love is the whole of duty, and will 
ensure his approbation. Follow this simple direction, 
and all will be well with you. 

But some will say, " I believe all will be saved." 

You do, indeed! Will they all become like Christ 
before they die? Do they all in fact become holy in 
this world ? Christ is in heaven. Can you go there 
unless you become first like Him in heart and in life? 

What is such a belief good for? Often has this 
question been forced on my mind in Boston, What is 
this belief that all men will be saved, good for? Peo- 
ple plead this belief as their excuse for not following 
Christ. They say, " No need to trouble ourselves with 
following Christ, since we shall all come right at last 
anyhow." Can this belief make men holy and happy ? 
Some of you will answer, " It makes me happy for the 
present, and that is the most I care for." But does it 
make you holy? Does it beget true Christian self- 
denial and real benevolence ? A faith and a practice 
which make you happy without being holy are but a 
poor thing. Indeed, it cannot fail of being utterly 
mischievous, because it lures and pleases without the 
least advance towards saving your soul. It only leaves 
you the more a slave of sin and Satan. 

But you say, "It makes me so miserable to believe 
that any will be forever lost!" 

What then? What if it does make you feel un- 
happy? It may make you unhappy to see your guilty 
friend sent to the penitentiary or the gallows now; 
but such a doom may be none the less deserved — none 
the less certain, because it hurts your feelings. 



366 ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 

How can there be any other way of final happiness 
save through real holiness? The fountain of all hap- 
piness must lie in your own soul. If that is renewed 
to holiness and made unselfish, loving, forgiving, hum- 
ble — then you will be happy of course, — but you can- 
not be happy without such a character. 

Some of you may say, " I don't believe in the neces- 
sity of a change of heart." 

Yes, you do; you are altogether mistaken in regard 
to the matter, if you suppose you don't believe in the 
necessity of a change of heart. There cannot be such 
a man in all Christendom — a man who does not know 
that by nature his heart is not right with God, yet 
that it must become right with God before he can en- 
joy God's presence in heaven. Is there one whose 
conscience does not testify that, before conversion, his 
heart is alienated from God? Do you not know that 
you are unlike God in spirit? and that j'ou must be 
changed so as to become like God before you can en- 
joy Him? What! a sinner, knowing himself to be a 
sinner, believe he can be happy in God's presence 
without a radical moral change ? Impossible ! Every 
man knows that the sinner, out of sympathy with God, 
must be changed before he can enjoy God's presence 
and love. Every man, unchanged by God's grace, 
knows himself to be a sinner and not holy by nature. 

A case in point to show the force of truth on even 
hardened hearts came lately to my knowledge. A 
Christian lady, being on a visit to one of the towns in 
Canada, was called on by a gentleman of high stand- 
ing in society, but who had always lived a prayerless, 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 367 

ungodly life. A man of strong will and nerves, pro- 
fessedly a sceptic, he yet took the ground before this 
Christian lady that he was ready, as a means of be- 
coming a Christian, to do anything that she should 
say. "Well, then," said she, "kneel down here, and 
cry out, ' God, be merciful to me, a sinner.' " " What ! " 
replied he, "do this when I don't believe myself a sin- 
ner? " " You need not excuse yourself on that ground," 
said she, "for you know you are a sinner." Having 
passed his word of honor to a lady, he could not draw 
back, and therefore kneeled and repeated the proposed 
words. Arising, he asked, "What next?" "Do so 
again, and say the same words." He raised the old 
objection, "I don't believe myself a sinner." She made 
the same answer as before, and a second time he re- 
peated the words of that prayer. The same things 
were said — the same things done, the third time, and 
then, hardened as he was, his heart felt the force of 
those words, and he began to cry in earnest, "God, be 
merciful to me, a sinner!" His heart broke, and he 
prayed till mercy came ! 

So often, when men say they don't believe this and 
that, they do believe it so far as conviction is concerned. 
They know the truth respecting their own guilt. 

But you plead, perhaps, this: I must attend to other 
duties first; my studies, or my business. 

No, my friend; no other duties can come before this. 
This is the greatest duty and ought to be the first. 
Hear what the Saviour said on this very point. He 
said to one man, "Follow Me;" and he answered, 
"Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father." This 



368 ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 

is a strong case, and is placed on record for our in- 
struction because it is strong. It may seem to you 
very unnatural that Jesus would call any man away 
from a duty so obvious and so inborn in every human 
heart; yet what did He say? He gave no heed to this 
plea, but answered, "Let the dead bury their dead; but 
go thou and preach the kingdom of God." Not even 
the last rites of burial to the dead must be allowed to 
stand before obedience to Christ's call. No doubt 
Christ saw a disposition in this man to plead off, and 
therefore He saw the necessity of meeting it promptly. 
Suppose the man had said at first, " Yes, Lord, I am 
ready; my father lies unburied; but I am ready, if 
Thou callest me, to follow Thee even now;" it is at 
least supposable, if not probable, that Jesus would 
have answered, Yes; I will go with thee to that funeral. 
Let us lay the dead solemnly in their last bed, and 
then go to our preaching. 

Another man replied to his call, saying, "Lord, I 
will follow Thee; but let me first go and bid them fare- 
well which are at home in my house." To him, Jesus 
replied, "No man having put his hand to the plow and 
looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Thus 
Christ teaches that no duty can possibly come before 
this of giving up your heart to follow Him. You 
must make up your mind fully to this life-business, and 
really enter upon it. All things else are only an of- 
fence to God. 

Do you say, I must study? You must first make up 
your mind to do all for Christ, — else study can be no 
acceptable duty. When Jesus says to you, "My son, 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 369 

give Me thy heart," He wants nothing else instead of 
your heart. He does not wish to be put off with some 
other duty than the very one He calls for. When He 
says, "Follow Me," He demands an explicit answer, 
whether you will or no, and He cannot accept any- 
thing evasive. 

REMARKS. 

1. You are now, each one of you, called to follow 
Christ, with the implied pledge on his part, that if you 
give yourself to Him, He will give Himself to you. 
Think of that. Would it not be a blessed thing to have 
Christ enve Himself to you, to be your eternal Friend 
— your portion and joy forever? 

Suppose Jesus were passing along here, and were 
calling one and another by name to follow Him. When 
He came near you, would you not be saying in your 
heart, I hope He will certainly call me? Or can it be 
you would say, I hope He will not call me? Can it be 
you could say that? Would you not rather say, Oh, is 
it possible He will pass me by; how awful ! Can it be? 
And if so, shall I never see Him passing by so near, 
again ? 

O sinner, Jesus is now passing by you, so near; 
arise and speak to Him, for He does call you; and you 
must decide now whether you follow Him or not — and 
decide for eternity ! 

2. Don't think about others. Say not, as Peter 

said, "Lord, what shall this man do?" This is an old 

and artful device of your adversary — this turning your 

mind to think about others. If you are wise, you will 

think about yourself only. 
16* 



370 ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 

3. It is a great comfort to reach the point where 
you say, I will follow Him anyhow: let others do as 
they please; I will go after Christ. This is just what 
you should say; and when you come to this point with 
a full heart, you will find it is a most precious decision. 

4. You are now called to decide your own future 
destiny. Some decision upon it you will certainly 
make. You take a step here to-day which may decide 
all your future being. Is it not well that you take this 
step right? 

Suppose I should now say, Come, separate your- 
selves according to the decision you make. All ye 
who will follow Christ, come into this aisle; — what 
will you do ? 

Will you refuse and say, I will not follow Christ yet; 
I have ends of my own to accomplish first : I will not 
be his servant now? Is this your decision? Shall we 
ask to have it put on record? It will go on record any- 
hozv, whether you ask it or not. 

Some of you will perhaps say, I will not decide just 
now. I did not come here to-day expecting to decide 
so great a question at this time. 

What, indeed ! Did not you expect to hear a gos- 
pel sermon to-day? And did not you know that in 
every gospel sermon there is, in fact, a gospel call on 
you to repent and follow Jesus? 

But will you now turn again and say, "Lord, I can't 
understand, I cannot realize, why I should follow 
Thee"? Don't say that; for you can understand it. 
And you can decide this question to-day. 

But, says some young man, if I should go after Him, 



ON FOLLOWING CHRIST. 37 1 

I am afraid I should have to forego some of my favor- 
ite plans for life. I might have to give up my intended 
profession. Another might be debarred from some 
lucrative business that pays better than following 
Christ. 

Then you can go and tell your Saviour so. Tell 
Him how the case lies. Tell Him you cannot trust 
Him to provide for your worldly interests. You are 
afraid He would send you also to preach the kingdom 
of God, and might pay you but poorly for your services. 
Perhaps He will excuse you from his service here and 
from entering into the joy of your Lord hereafter 
besides! 

There is a young man who says, I can't follow 
Christ now, because I cannot leave my dear Christian 
mother. Then go upon your knees and spread out 
your excuse before the Lord. Say to him, My good 
mother gave me the best Christian instruction and her 
constant prayers; she did everything to make me thy 
servant: but now, since Thou art calling me to follow 
Thee, I find I cannot go and preach thy love to a dying 
world. She cannot spare me and I cannot leave her. 

Indeed, you cannot afford to. And your pious 
mother thinks her claim is above that of the Saviour! 
Well, you must both make your choice. 



XXL 
CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 



"Ask, and it shall be given you." — Matt. vii. 7, 8. 
"Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, to consume it upon 
your lusts." — "James iv. 3. 

I PROPOSE to consider the conditions of prevailing 
prayer. 

The first condition is a state of mind in which you 
could offer the Lord 's Prayer sincerely and acceptably. 

Christ at their request taught his disciples how to 
pray. In doing so, He gave them an epitome of the 
appropriate subjects of prayer, and also threw a most 
important light upon the spirit with which all prayer 
should be offered. This form is exceedingly compre- 
hensive. Every word is full of meaning. It would 
seem very obvious, however, that our Lord did not in- 
tend here to specify all the particular things we may 
pray for, but only to group together some of the great 
heads of subjects which are appropriate to be sought 
of God in prayer, and also to show us with what tem- 
per and spirit we should come before the Lord. 

This is evidently not designed as a mere form, to be 
used always and without variation. It cannot be that 
Christ intended we should evermore use these words in 
prayer, and no other words; for He never again used 



CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 373 

these precise words Himself, — so far as we know from 
the sacred record, — but did often use other and very 
different words, as the Scriptures abundantly testify. 

But this form answers a most admirable purpose if 
we understand it to be given us to teach us these two 
most important things; namely, what sort of blessings 
we may pray for, and in what spirit we should pray for 
them. 

Most surely, then, we cannot hope to pray acceptably 
unless we can offer this prayer in its real spirit — our 
own hearts deeply sympathizing with the spirit of this 
prayer. If we cannot pray the Lord's Prayer sincerely, 
we cannot offer any acceptable prayer at all. 

Hence it becomes us to examine carefully the words 
of this recorded form of prayer. Yet be it remembered, 
it is not these words, as mere words, that God regards, 
or that we should value. Words themselves, apart 
from their meaning, and from their meaning as used by 
?ts, would neither please nor displease God. He looks 
on the heart. 

Let us now refer to the Lord's Prayer, and to the 
connection in which it stands. 

11 When ye pray," says our Lord, "use not vain repe- 
titions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall 
be heard for their much speaking." 

Hence there is no need that you continue to clamor 
unceasingly, " O Baal, hear us; O Baal, hear us." Those 
were indeed vain repetitions — just such as the heathen 
use. It is a most singular fact that the Roman Catho- 
lic church has fallen into the practice here condemned. 
Like the priests of Baal, in Elijah's time, they demand 



374 CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 

and practise everlasting repetitions of the same words, 
numbering their repetitions of Paternosters and Ave 
Marias by their beads, and estimating the merit of 
prayer by the quantity, and not the quality, of their 
prayers. The more repetitions, the greater the value. 
This principle, and the practice founded upon it, our 
Saviour most pointedly condemns. 

So, many persons, not Roman Catholics or heathen, 
seem to lay much more stress upon the amount of 
prayer than upon its character and quality. They 
think if there can only be prayer enough, that is, repe- 
titions enough of the same or similar words, the prayer 
will be certainly effective, and prevalent with God. No 
mistake can be greater. The entire word of God re- 
bukes this view of the subject in the most pointed 
manner. 

Yet, be it well considered, the precept" Use not vain 
repetitions," should by no means be construed to dis- 
courage the utmost perseverance and fervency of spirit 
in prayer. The passage does not forbid our renewing 
our requests from great earnestness of spirit. Our Lord 
Himself did this in the garden, repeating his supplica- 
tion "in the same words." Vain repetitions are what 
is forbidden; — not repetitions which gush from a bur- 
dened spirit. 

This form of prayer invites us, first of all, to address 
the great God as " Oztr Father who art in heaven." 
This authorizes us to come as children and address the 
Most High, feeling that He is a Father to us. 

The first petition follows, "Hallowed be thy name." 



CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 375 

What is the exact idea of this language? To hallow 
is to sanctify; to deem and render sacred. 

There is a passage in Peter's Epistle which may- 
throw light on this. 

He says, " Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." 
The meaning seems plainly to be this: Set apart the 
Lord God in your hearts as the only true object of su- 
preme, eternal adoration, worship, and praise. Place 
Him alone on the throne of your hearts. Let Him be 
the only hallowed object there. 

So here, in the first petition of the Lord's Prayer, we 
pray that both ourselves and all intelligent beings may 
in this sense hallow the name of the Lord God and 
sanctify Him in their hearts. Our prayer is, Let all 
adore Thee — the infinite Father — as the only object of 
universal adoration, praise, worship, and love. 

This prayer hence implies, 

1. A desire that this hallowing of Jehovah's name 
should be universal. 

2. A willingness to concur heartily ourselves in this 
sentiment. Our own hearts are in deep sympathy with 
it. Our inmost souls cry out, Let God be honored, 
adored, loved, worshipped, and revered by all on earth 
and all in heaven. Of course, praying in this spirit, 
we shall have the highest reverence for God. Beginning 
our prayer thus, it will so far be acceptable to God. 
Without such reverence for Jehovah's name, no prayer 
can possibly be acceptable. All irreverent praying is 
mockery, most abhorrent to the pure and exalted Je- 
hovah. 



376 CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 

" Thy kingdom come" What does this language 
imply? 

1. A desire that God's kingdom should be set up 
in the world, and all men become holy. The will is 
set upon this as the highest and most to be desired of 
all objects whatever. It becomes the supreme desire 
of the soul, and all other things sink into comparative 
insignificance before it. The mind and the judgment 
approve and delight in the kingdom of God as in itself 
infinitely excellent, and then the will harmonizes most 
perfectly with this decision of intelligence. 

Let it be well observed here that our Lord, in giving 
this form of prayer, assumes throughout that we shall 
use all this language with most profound sincerity. If 
any man were to use these words and reject their spirit 
from his heart, his prayer would be an utter abomina- 
tion before God. Whoever would pray at all, should 
consider that God looks on the heart, and is a holy God. 

2. It is implied in this petition that the suppliant 
does what he can to establish this kingdom. He is 
actually doing all he can to promote this great end for 
which he prays. Else he fails entirely of evincing his 
sincerity. For nothing can be more sure than that 
every man who prays sincerely for the coming of Jeho- 
vah's kingdom, truly desires and wills that it may come; 
and if so, he will neglect no means in his power to pro- 
mote and hasten its coming. Hence every man who 
sincerely offers this petition will lay himself out to pro- 
mote the object. He will seek by every means to make 
the truth of God universally prevalent and triumphant. 

3. I might also say that the sincere offering of this 



CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 377 

petition implies a resistance of everything inconsistent 
with the coming of this kingdom. This you cannot 
fail to understand. 

We now pass to the next petition, " Thy will be done 
in earth as it is in heaven" 

This petition implies that we desire to have God's 
will done, and that this desire is supreme. 

It implies also a delight in having the will of God 
done by all his creatures, and a corresponding sorrow 
whenever it fails of being done by any intelligent being. 

There is also implied a state of the will in harmony 
with this desire. A man whose will is averse to having 
his own desires granted is insincere, even although his 
desires are real. Such a man is not honest and consis- 
tent with himself. 

In general, I remark, respecting this petition, that if 
it be offered sincerely, the following things must be 
true: 

1. The suppliant is willing that God should require 
all He does, and as He does. His heart will acquiesce 
both in the things required and in the manner in which 
God requires them. It would indeed be strange that 
a man should pray sincerely that God's will might be 
done, and yet not be willing himself that God should 
give law, or carry his will into effect. Such inconsis- 
tencies never can happen where the heart is truly sin- 
cere and honest before God. No, never. The honest- 
hearted suppliant is as willing that God's will should 
be done as the saints in heaven are. He delights in 
having it done, more than in all riches — more than in 
his highest earthly joy. 



3/8 CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 

2. When a man offers this petition sincerely it is 
implied that he is really doing, himself, all the known 
will of God. For if he is acting contrary to his actual 
knowledge of God's will, it is most certain that he is 
not sincere in praying that God's will may be done. If 
he sincerely desires and is willing that God's will should 
be done, why does he not do it himself? 

3. It implies a willingness that God should use his 
own discretion in the affairs of the universe, and just 
as really and fully in this world as in heaven itself. 
You all admit that in heaven God exercises a holy sov- 
ereignty. I do not mean by this, an arbitrary, unrea- 
sonable sovereignty, but I mean a control of all things 
according to his own infinite wisdom and love — exer- 
cising evermore his own discretion, and depending on 
the counsel of none but Himself. Thus God reigns in 
heaven. 

You also see that in heaven, all created beings exer- 
cise the most perfect submission and confidence in God. 
They all allow Him to carry out his own plans, framed 
in wisdom and love, and they even rejoice with exceed- 
ing joy that He does. It is their highest blessedness. 

Such is the state of feeling towards God universally 
in heaven. 

And such it should be on earth. The man who offers 
this petition sincerely must approximate very closely to 
the state of mind which obtains in heaven. 

He will rejoice that God appoints all things as He 
pleases, and that all beings should be, and do, and 
suffer as God ordains. If man has not such confidence 
in God as to be willing that He should control all events 



CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 379 

respecting his own family, his friends, all his inter- 
ests, — in short for time and eternity, — then certainly 
his heart is not submissive to God, and it is hypocrisy 
for him to pray that God's will may be done on earth 
as in heaven. It must be hypocrisy in him, because 
his own heart rebels against the sentiment of his own 
words. 

This petition offered honestly, implies nothing less 
than universal, unqualified submission to God. The 
heart really submits, and delights in its submission. 

No thought is so truly pleasing as that of having 
God's will done evermore. A sincere offering of this 
prayer, or indeed of any prayer whatever, involves the 
fullest possible submission of all events, for time and 
for eternity, to the hands of God. All real prayer puts 
God on the throne of the universe, and the suppliant 
low before Him at his footstool. 

4. The offering of this petition sincerely, implies 
conformity of life to this state of the will. You will 
readily see that this must be the case, because the will 
governs the outward life by a law of necessity. The 
action of this law must be universal so long as man 
remains a voluntary moral agent. So long, therefore, 
the ultimate purpose of the will must control the out- 
ward life. 

Hence the man who offers this prayer acceptably 
must live as he prays ; must live according to his own 
prayers. It would be a strange and most unaccountable 
thing, indeed, if the heart should be in a state to offer 
this prayer sincerely, and yet should act itself out in 



380 CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 

the life directly contrary to its own expressed and su- 
preme preference and purpose. 

Such a case is impossible. The very supposition in- 
volves the absurdity of assuming that a man's supreme 
preference shall not control his outward life. 

In saying this, however, I do not deny that a man's 
state of mind may change, so as to differ the next hour 
from what it is this. He may be in a state one hour 
to offer this prayer acceptably, and the next hour may 
act in a manner right over against his prayer. 

But if in this latter hour you could know the state 
of his will, you would find that it is not such that he 
can pray acceptably, "Thy will be done." No; his 
will is so changed as to conform to what you see in his 
outward life. 

Hence a man's state of heart may be to some extent 
known from his external actions. You may at least 
know that his heart does not sincerely offer this prayer 
if his life does not conform to the known will of God. 

We pass to the next petition, " Give its this day our 
daily bread" 

It is plain that this implies dependence on God for 
all the favors and mercies we either possess or need. 

The petition is remarkably comprehensive. It names 
only bread, and only the bread for "this day;" yet 
none can doubt that it was designed to include also 
our water and our needful clothing — whatever we really 
need for our highest health, and usefulness, and enjoy- 
ment on earth. For all these we look to God. 

Oar Saviour doubtless meant to give us in general 
the subjects of prayer, showing us for what things it is 



CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 38 1 

proper for us to pray and also the spirit with which we 
should pray. These are plainly the two great points 
which He aimed chiefly to illustrate in this remarkable 
form of prayer. 

Whoever offers this petition sincerely, is in a state of 
mind to recognize and gratefully acknowledge the 
providence of God. He sees the hand of God in all 
the circumstances that affect his earthly state. The 
rain and the sunshine — the winds and the frosts, he 
sees coming, all of them, from the hand of his own 
Father. Hence he looks up in the spirit of a child, — 
saying, "Give me this day my daily bread." 

But there are those who philosophize and speculate 
themselves entirely out of this filial dependence on 
God. They arrive at such ideas of the magnitude of 
the universe that it becomes in their view too great for 
God to govern by a minute attention to particular 
events. Hence they see no God, other than an un- 
knowing Nature in the ordinary processes of vegeta- 
tion, or in the laws that control animal life. A certain 
indefinable but unintelligent power, which they call 
Nature, does it all. Hence they do not expect God to 
hear their prayers, or notice their wants. Nature will 
move on in its own determined channel whether they 
pray or restrain prayer. 

Now men who hold such opinions cannot pray the 
Lord's Prayer without the most glaring hypocrisy. 
How can they offer this prayer and mean anything bv 
it, if they truly believe that everything is nailed down 
to a fixed chain of events, in which no regard is had or 
can be had to the prayers or wants of man ? 



382 CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 

Surely, nothing is more plain than that this prayer 
recognizes most fully the universal providence of that 
same infinite Father who gives us the promises, and 
who invites us to plead them for obtaining all the 
blessings we can ever need. 
• It practically recognizes God as Ruler over all. 

What if a man should offer this prayer, but should 
add to it an appendix of this sort, "Lord, although we 
ask of Thee our daily bread, yet Thou knowest we do 
not believe Thou hast anything at all to do with giv- 
ing us each day our daily bread; for we believe Thou 
art too high, and thy universe too large, to admit of 
our supposing that Thou canst attend to so small a 
matter as supplying our daily food. We believe that 
Thou art so unchangeable, and the laws of nature are 
so fixed, that no regard can possibly be had to our pray- 
ers or our wants." 

Now would this style of prayer correspond with the 
petitions given us by Christ, or with their obvious 
spirit ? 

Plainly this prayer dictated by our Lord for us, im- 
plies a state of heart that leans upon God for every- 
thing — for even the most minute things that can pos- 
sibly affect our happiness or be to us objects of desire. 
The mind looks up to the great God, expecting from 
Him, and from Him alone, every good and perfect gift. 
For everything we need, our eye turns naturally and 
spontaneously towards our great Father. 

And this is a daily dependence. The state of mind 
which it implies is habitual. 



CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 383 

We must pass now to the next petition, '''Forgive us 
our debts as we forgive otir debtors." 

In this immediate connection, the Saviour says, "For 
if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Fa- 
ther will also forgive you ; but if ye forgive not men 
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your 
trespasses." The word "trespasses," therefore, doubt- 
less explains what is meant by debts in the Lord's 
Prayer. Luke, in reciting this Lord's Prayer, has it, 
"Forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that 
is indebted to us." These various forms of expression 
serve to make the meaning quite plain. It may often 
happen that in such a world as this, some of my fellow- 
men may wrong or at least offend me — in some such 
way as I wrong and displease God. In such cases this 
petition of the Lord's Prayer implies that I forgive 
those who injure me, even as I pray to be forgiven my- 
self. 

The phraseology in Matthew makes the fact that we 
forgive others either the measure or the condition of 
our being- forgiven ; while, as given by Luke, it seems 
to be at least a condition, if not a ground or reason, of 
the request for personal forgiveness. The former reads, 
"Forgive us as we forgive," etc., and the latter, "For- 
give us, for we also forgive every one indebted to us." 

Now on this petition I remark, 

1. It cannot possibly imply that God will forgive 
us our sins zvhile we are still committing them. Sup- 
pose one should use this form of petition: "Lord, for- 
give me for having injured Thee as Thou knowest that 
I do most freely forgive all men who injure me;" while 



384 CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 

yet it is perfectly apparent to the man himself and to 
everybody else that he is still injuring and abusing 
God as much as ever. Would not such a course be 
equivalent to saying, "Lord, I am very careful, Thou 
seest, not to injure my fellow-men, and I freely forgive 
their wrongs against me; but I care not how much I 
abuse and wrong Thee"! This would be horrible! 
Yet this horrible prayer is virtually invoked whenever 
men ask of God forgiveness with the spirit of sin and 
rebellion in their hearts. 

2. This petition never reads thus, "Forgive us our 
sins and enable us to forgive others also." This would 
be a most abominable prayer to offer to God; certainly, 
if it be understood to imply that we cannot forgive 
others unless we are specially enabled to do so by 
power given us in answer to prayer; and worse still, 
if this inability to forgive is imputed to God as its 
Author. 

However the phraseology be explained, and what- 
ever it be understood to imply; it is common enough 
in the mouths of men; but nowhere found in the book 
of God. 

3. Christ, on the other hand, says, Forgive us as 
we forgive others. We have often injured, abused, and 
wronged Thee. Our fellow-men have also often in- 
jured us, but Thou knowest we have freely forgiven 
them. Now, therefore, forgive us as Thou seest we 
have forgiven others. If Thou seest that we do for- 
give others, then do Thou indeed forgive us, and not 
otherwise. We cannot ask to be ourselves forgiven on 
any other condition. 



CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 385 

4. Many seem to consider themselves quite pious if 
they can put up with it when they are injured 01 
slighted; if they can possibly control themselves so as 
not to break out into a passion. If, however, they are 
really wronged, they imagine they do well to be angry. 
Oh, to be sure! somebody has really wronged them, 
and shall they not resent it, and study how to get re- 
venge, or, at least, redress? But mark; the apostle 
Peter says, " If when ye do well and suffer for it, ye 
take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." " For 
even hereunto were ye called," as if all Christians had 
received a special call to this holy example. Oh, how 
would such an example rebuke the spirit of the world ! 

5. It is one remarkable condition of being an- 
swered in prayer that we suffer ourselves to harbor no 
ill-will to any human being. We must forgive all that 
wrong us, and forgive them too from the heart. God 
as really requires us to love our enemies as to love our 
friends, — as really requires us to forgive others as to 
ask forgiveness for ourselves. Do we always bear this 
in mind? Are you, beloved, always careful to see to it 
that your state of mind towards all who may possibly 
have wronged you is one of real forgiveness, and do 
you never think of coming to God in prayer until you 
are sure you have a forgiving spirit yourself? 

Plainly, this is one of the ways in which we may 
test our fitness of heart to prevail with God in prayer. 
"When thou standest, praying, forgive, if thou hast 
aught against any." Think not to gain audience be- 
fore God unless thou dost most fully and heartily for- 
give all who may be thought to have wronged thee. 
17 



386 CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 

Sometimes persons of a peculiar temperament lay 
up grudges against others. They have enemies, against 
whom they not only speak evil, but know not how to 
speak well. Now such persons who harbor such 
grudges in their hearts, can no more prevail with God 
in prayer than the devil can. God would as soon hear 
the devil pray and answer his prayers as hear and an- 
swer them. They need not think to be heard; — not 
they! 

How many times have I had occasion to rebuke this 
unforgiving spirit! Often, while in a place laboring to 
promote a revival, I have seen the workings of this 
jealous, unforgiving spirit, and I have felt like saying, 
Take these things hence! Why do you get up a 
prayer-meeting and think to pray to God when you 
know that you hate your brother; and know moreover 
that I know you do? Away with it! Let such pro- 
fessed Christians repent, break down, get into the dust 
at the feet of God, and men too, before they think to 
pray acceptably! Until they do thus repent, all their 
prayers are only a " smoke in the nose" before God. 

Our next petition is, " Lead us not into temptation." 

And what is implied in this ? 

A fear and dread of sin; — a watchfulness against 
temptation; an anxious solicitude lest by any means we 
should be overcome and fall into sin. On this point 
Christ often warned his disciples, and not them only, 
but, what He said unto them, He said unto all, — 
" Watch" 

A man not afraid of sin and temptation cannot pre- 
sent this petition in a manner acceptable to God. 



CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 387 

You will observe, moreover, that this petition does 
not by any means imply that God leads men into temp- 
tation in order to make them sin, so that we must needs 
implore of Him not to lead us thus, lest He should do 
it No, that is not implied at all; but the spirit of the 
petition is this, O Lord, Thou knowesthow weak I am, 
and how prone to sin; therefore let thy providence guard 
and keep me, that I may not indulge in anything what- 
ever that may prove to me a temptation to sin. — De- 
liver us from all iniquity — from all the stratagems of 
the devil. Throw around us all thy precious guardian- 
ship, that we may be kept from sinning against Thee. 

How needful this protection, and how fit that we 
should pray for it without ceasing! 

This form of prayer concludes, "For thine is the 
kingdom, the power ", and the glory forever. Amen.' 1 '' 

Here is an acknowledgment of the universal govern- 
ment of God. The suppliant recognizes his supremacy 
and rejoices in it. 

Thus it is when the mind is in the attitude of pre- 
vailing prayer. It is most perfectly natural then for us 
to regard the character, attributes, and kingdom of God 
as infinitely sacred and glorious. 

• How perfectly spontaneous is this feeling in the heart 
of all who really pray, " I ask all this because Thou art 
a powerful, universal, and holy Sovereign. Thou art 
the infinite Source of all blessings. Unto Thee, there- 
fore, do I look for all needed good, either for myself or 
my fellow-beings" ! 

How deeply does the praying heart realize and re- 
joice in the universaPsupremacy of the great Jehovah ! 



388 CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 

All power, and glory, and dominion are thine, and 

thine only, forever and ever. Amen and amen. Let my 

whole soul re-echo, Amen. Let the power and the 

glory be the Lord's alone forevermore. Let my soul 

forever feel and utter this sentiment with its deepest 

and most fervent emphasis. Let God reign supreme 

and adored through all earth and all heaven, henceforth 

and forever. 

REMARKS. 

1. The state of mind involved in this prayer must 
t>3 connected with a holy life. Most manifestly it can 
never co-exist with a sinning life. If you allow your- 
self in sin, you certainly cannot have access to God in 
prayer; you cannot enter into the spirit of the Lord's 
Prayer and appropriately utter its petitions. 

2. The appropriate offering of this prayer involves 
a corresponding sensibility — a state of feeling in har- 
mony with it. The mind of the suppliant must sym- 
pathize with the spirit of this form of prayer. Other- 
wise he does, by no means, make this prayer his own. 

3. It is nothing better than mockery to use the 
Lord's Prayer as a mere form. So multitudes do use 
it, especially when public worship is conducted by the 
use of forms of prayer. Often you may hear this form 
of prayer repeated, over and over, in such a way as 
seems to testify that the mind takes no cognizance of 
the sentiments which the words should express. The 
chattering of a parrot could scarcely be more sense- 
less and void of impression on the speaker's mind. 
Plow shocking to hear the Lord's Prayer chattered over 
thus ! Instead of spreading out before God what they 



CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER. 389 

really need, they run over the words of this form, and 
perhaps of some other set forms, as if the utterance of 
the right words served to constitute acceptable prayer ! 

If they had gone into the streets and cursed and 
swore by the hour, every man of them would be horri- 
bly shocked, and would feel that now assuredly the 
curse of Jehovah would fall upon them. But in their 
senseless chattering of this form of prayer by the hour 
together, they as truly blaspheme God as if they had 
taken his name in vain in any other way. 

Men may mock God in pretending to pray, as truly 
as in cursing and swearing. God looks 011 the heart, 
and He estimates nothing as real prayer into which the 
heart does not enter. And for many reasons it must 
be peculiarly provoking to God to have the forms of 
prayer gone through with and no heart of prayer at- 
tend them. 

Prayer is a privilege too sacred to be trifled with. The 
pernicious effects of trifling with prayer are certainly 
not less than the evils of any other form of profanity. 
Hence God must abhor all public desecration of this 
solemn exercise. 

Now, brethren, in closing my remarks on this one 
great condition of prevailing prayer, let me beseech 
you never to suppose that you pray acceptably unless 
your heart sympathizes deeply with the sentiments ex- 
pressed in the Lord's Prayer. Your state of mind must 
be such that these words will most aptly express it. 
Your heart must run into the very words, and into all 
the sentiments of this form of prayer. Our Saviour 
meant here to teach us how to pray; and here you may 



3Q0 CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER, 

come and learn how. Here you may see a map of the 
things to pray for, and a picture of the spirit in which 
acceptable prayer is offered. 



XXII. 

AN APPROVING HEART— CONFIDENCE IN 

PRAYER. 



"Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence 
toward God. And whatever we ask, we receive of him, because we 
keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his 
sight." — I John iii. 21, 22. 

IN discussing this subject, I shall, 
I. Show that if our heart does not condemn 

US, WE HAVE AND CANNOT BUT HAVE CONFIDENCE TO- 
WARD God that He accepts us; 

II. That if we have confidence that our 
heart does not condemn us, we shall also have 
confidence that god will grant us what we ask; 

III. Show why this is so, and why we know 

IT TO BE SO. 

/. If otir heart really does not condemn us, it is be- 
cause we are conscious of being conformed to all the 
light we have, and of doing the whole will of God as 
far as we know it. While in this state it is impossible 
that, with right views of God's character, we should 
conceive of Him as condemning us. Our intelligence 
instantly rejects the supposition that He does or can 
condemn us, that is, for our present state. We may 
be most deeply conscious that we have done wrong 



392 AN APPROVING HEART — 

heretofore, and we may feel ourselves to be most guilty 
for this, and may be sure that God disapproves those 
past sins of ours, and would condemn us for them even 
now, if the pardoning blood of Christ had not inter- 
vened ; but where pardon for past sins has been 
sought and found through redeeming blood, "there is 
therefore no more condemnation" for the past. And 
in reference to the present, the obvious truth is that if 
our conscience fully approves of our state, and we are 
conscious of having acted according to the best light 
we have, it contradicts all our just ideas of God to 
suppose that He condemns us. He is a father, and 
He cannot but smile on his obedient and trusting 
children. 

Indeed, ourselves being in this state of mind, it is 
impossible for us not to suppose that God is well 
pleased with our present state. We cannot conceive 
of Him as being otherwise than pleased; for, if He 
were displeased with a state of sincere and full obedi- 
ence, He would act contrary to his own character; He 
would cease to be benevolent, holy, and just. We 
cannot, therefore, conceive of Him as refusing to accept 
us when we are conscious of obeying his will so far as 
we know it. Suppose the case of a soul appearing 
before God, fully conscious of seeking with all the 
heart to please God. In this case the soul must see 
that this is such a state as must please God. 

Let us turn this subject over till we get it fully be- 
fore our minds. For what is it that our conscience 
rightly condemns us ? Plainly for not obeying God 
according to the best light we have. Suppose now we 



CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 393 

turn about and fully obey the dictates of conscience 
Then its voice approves and ceases to condemn. Now 
all just views of the Deity require us to consider the 
voice of conscience in both cases as only the echo of 
his own. The God who condemns all disobedience 
must of necessity approve of obedience ; and to con- 
ceive of Him as disapproving our present state would 
be, in the conviction of our own minds, to condemn 
Him. 

It is therefore by no means presumption in us to 
assume that God accepts those who are conscious of 
really seeking supremely to please and obey Him. 

Again, let it be noted that in this state with an ap- 
proving conscience, we should have no self-righteous- 
ness. A man in this state would at this very moment 
ascribe all his obedience to the grace of God. From 
his inmost soul he would say, " By the grace of God, 
I am what I am;" and nothing could be farther from 
his heart than to take praise or glory to himself for 
anything good. Yet I have sometimes been exceed- 
ingly astonished to hear men, and even ministers of the 
gospel, speak with surprise and incredulity of such a 
state as our text presupposes — a state in which a 
man's conscience universally approves of his moral 
state. — But why be incredulous about such a state? or 
why deem it a self-righteous and sinful state? A man 
in this state is as far as can be from ascribing glory to 
himself. No state can be farther from self-righteous- 
ness. So far is this from being a self-righteous state, 
that the fact is, every other state but this is self-right- 
eous, and this alone is exempt from that sin. Mark 
17* 



394 AN APPROVING HEART — 

how the man in this state ascribes all to the grace of 
God. The apostle Paul when in this state of conscious 
uprightness most heartily ascribes all to grace. "I 
labored," says he, "more abundantly than they all, yet 
not I, but the grace of God that is in me." 

But, observe that, while the apostle was in that 
state, it was impossible that he should conceive of God 
as displeased with his state. Paul might greatly and 
justly condemn himself for his past life, and might feel 
assured that God disapproved and had condemned 
Saul, the proud persecutor, though he had since par- 
doned Saul, the praying penitent. But the moral state 
of Paul the believer, of Paul, the untiring laborer for 
Christ, of Paul, whose whole heart and life divine grace 
has now moulded into his own image, — this moral state 
Paul's conscience approves, and his views of God com- 
pel him to believe that God approves. 

So of the apostle John. Hear what he says. — 
"Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we 
keep his commandments and do those things that arc 
pleasing in his sight" But here rises up a man to re- 
buke the apostle. What! he says, did you not know 
that your heart is corrupt, that you never can know all 
its latent wickedness, that you ought never to be so 
presumptuous as to suppose that you "do those things 
that please God"? Did you not know that no mere 
man does ever, even by any grace received in this life, 
really "keep the commandments of God. so as to do 
those things that are pleasing in his sight"? No, says 
John, I did not know that. "What," rejoins his re- 
prover, "not know that sin is mixed with all you do, 



CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 395 

and that the least sin is displeasing to God?" Indeed, 
replies John, I knew I was sincerely trying to please 
God, and verily supposed I did please Him and did 
keep his commandments, and that it was entirely proper 
to say so — all to the praise of upholding, sanctifying 
grace. 

Again, when a man prays disinterestedly, and with a 
heart in full and deep sympathy with God, he may and 
should have confidence that God hears him. When he 
can say in all honesty before the Lord, Now, Lord, Thou 
knowest that through the grace of thy Spirit my soul 
is set on doing good to men for thy glory; I am grieved 
for the dishonor done to Thee, so that "rivers of water 
run down my eyes, because mien keep not thy law," 
then he cannot but know that his prayers are accepta- 
ble to God. 

Indeed no one, having right views of God's charac- 
ter, can come to Him in prayer in a disinterested state 
of mind, and feel otherwise than that God accepts such 
a state of mind. Now since our heart cannot condemn 
us when we are in a disinterested state of mind, but 
must condemn any other state, it follows that if our 
heart does not condemn us, we shall have, and cannot 
but have, confidence that God hears our prayers and 
accepts our state as pleasing in his sight. 

Again, when we are conscious of sympathizing with 
God Himself, we may know that God will answer our 
prayers. There never was a prayer made in this state 
of sympathy with God, which He failed to answer. 
God cannot fail to answer such a prayer without deny- 
ing Himself. The soul, being in sympathy with God, 



39^ AN APPROVING HEART — 

feels as God feels; so that for God to deny its prayers, 
is to deny his own feelings, and refuse to do the very 
thing Himself desires. Since God cannot do this, He 
cannot fail of hearing the prayer that is in sympathy 
with his own heart. 

In the state we are now considering, the Christian is 
conscious of praying in the Spirit, and therefore must 
know that his prayer is accepted before God. I say, 
he is conscious of this fact. Do not some of you 
know this ? Ye who thus live and walk with God, do 
you not know that the Spirit of God helps your in- 
firmities, and makes intercession for you according to 
the will of God ? Are you not very conscious of these 
intercessions made for you, and in your very soul, as it 
were, with groanings that cannot be uttered ? Your 
heart within pants and cries out after God, and is lifted 
up continually before Him as spontaneously as it is 
when your heart sings, pouring out its deep outgush- 
ings of praise. You know how sometimes your heart 
sings, though your lips move not and you utter no 
sound; — yet your heart is full of music, making mel- 
ody to the Lord. Even so, your soul is sometimes in 
the mood of spontaneous prayer, and pours out its 
deep-felt supplications into the ears of the Lord of 
Hosts just as naturally as you breathe. The silent and 
ceaseless echoing of your heart is, Thy kingdom come 
— thy kingdom come; and although you may not utter 
these words, and perhaps not any words at all, yet 
these words are a fair expression of the overflowing de- 
sires of your heart. 

And this deep praying of the heart goes on while 



CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 397 

the Christian is still pursuing the common vocations 
of life. The man, perhaps, is behind the counter or 
in his workshop driving his plane, but his heart is com- 
muning or interceding with God. You may see him 
behind his plow — but his heart is deeply engrossed 
with his Maker; — he follows on, and only now and 
then starts up from the intense working of his mind 
and finds that his land is almost finished. The stu- 
dent has his book open to his lesson; but his deep 
musings upon God, or the irrepressible longings of his 
soul in prayer, consume his mental energies, and his 
eye floats unconsciously over the unnoticed page. God 
fills his thoughts. He is more conscious of this deep 
communion with God than he is of the external world. 
The team he is driving or the book he professes to 
study is by no means so really and so vividly a matter 
of conscious recognition to him as is his communion 
of soul with his God. 

In this state the soul is fully conscious of being per- 
fectly submissive to God. Whether he uses these 
words or not, his heart would always say, "Not my 
will, O Lord, but thine be done." Hence he knows 
that God will grant the blessing he asks, if He can do 
so without a greater evil to his kingdom than the re- 
sulting good of bestowing it. We cannot but know 
that the Lord delights to answer the prayers of a sub- 
missive child of his own. 

Again, when the conscience sweetly and humbly ap- 
proves, it seems impossible that we should feel so 
ashamed and confounded before God as to think that 
He cannot hear our prayer. The fact is, it is only 



398 AN APPROVING HEART — 

those whose heart condemns them, who come before 
God ashamed and confounded, and who cannot ex- 
pect God to answer their prayers. These persons can- 
not expect to feel otherwise than confounded, until the 
sting of conscious guilt is taken away by repentance 
and faith in a Redeemer's blood. 

Yet again, the soul in this state is not afraid to come 
with humble boldness to the throne, as God invites 
him to do; for he recognizes God as a real and most 
gracious father, and sees in Jesus a most compassion- 
ate and condescending high priest. Of course he can 
look upon God only as being always ready to re- 
ceive and welcome himself to his presence. 

Nor is this a self-righteous state of mind. Oh, how 
often have I been amazed and agonized to hear it so 
represented ! But how strange is this ! Because you 
are conscious of being entirely honest before God, 
therefore it is maintained that you are self-righteous ! 
You ascribe every good thing in yourself most heart- 
ily to divine grace, but yet you are (so some say) very 
self-righteous notwithstanding ! How long will it take 
some people to learn what real self-righteousness is? 
Surely it does not consist in being full of the love and 
Spirit of God; nor does humility consist in being actually 
so full of sin and self-condemnation that you cannot feel 
otherwise than ashamed and confounded before both 
God and man. 

II. We are next to consider this position, namely, 
that if our heart does not condemn ?is, we may have 
confidence that we shall receive the things we ask. 

i. This must be so, because it is his Spirit working 



CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 399 

in us that excites these prayers. God Himself pre- 
pares the heart to pray; — the Spirit of Christ leads this 
Christian to the throne of grace, and keeps him there; 
then presents the objects of prayer, enkindles desire, 
draws the soul into deep sympathy with God; and 
now, — all this being wrought by the grace and Spirit 
of God, — will He not answer these prayers? Indeed 
He will. How can He ever fail to answer them? 

2. It is a remarkable fact that all real prayer seems 
to be summed up in the Lord's Prayer, and especially 
in those two most comprehensive petitions: " Thy 
kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in 
heaven." The mind in a praying frame runs right into 
these two petitions, and seems to centre here continu- 
ally. Many other and various things may be specified; 
but they are all only parts and branches of this one 
great blessing — Let God's kingdom come, and bear 
sway on earth as it does in heaven. This is the sum 
of all true prayer. 

Now let it be observed that God desires this result 
infinitely more than we do. When, therefore, we de- 
sire it too, we are in harmony with the heart of God, 
and He cannot deny us. The blessing we crave is the 
very thing which, of all others, He most delights to 
bestow. 

3. Yet let it be noted here that God may not an- 
swer every prayer according to its letter; but He surely 
will according to its spirit. The real spirit is evermore 
this, "Thy kingdom come — thy will be done;" and 
this, God will assuredly answer, because He has so 



400 AN APPROVING HEART — 

abundantly promised to do this very thing in answer 
/ to prayer. 

III. Why will God certainly answer such a prayer, 
and how can we know that He will ? 

i. The text affirms that " whatsoever we ask, we 
receive of Him, because we keep his commandments 
and do those things that are pleasing in his sight." 
Now we might perhaps understand this to assign our 
obedience as the reason of God's giving the blessing 
sought in prayer. But if we should, we should greatly 
err. The fundamental reason always of God's bestow- 
ing blessings is his goodness — his love. Let this be 
never forgotten. All good flows down from the great 
fountain of infinite goodness. Our obedience is only the 
condition of God's bestowing it — never the fundamen- 
tal reason or ground of its bestowment. It is very 
common for us, in rather loose and popular language, 
to speak of a condition as being a cause or fundamen- 
tal reason. But on a point like the present, we ought 
to use language with more precision. The true mean- 
ing on this point undoubtedly is that obedience is the 
condition. This being fulfilled on our part, the Lord 
can let his infinite benevolence flow out upon us with- 
out restraint. Obedience takes away the obstacle; — 
then the mighty gushings of divine love break forth. 
Obedience removes the obstacles; — never merits or 
draws down the blessing. 

2. If God were to give blessings upon any other 
condition, it would deceive multitudes, either respect- 
ing ourselves or Himself. If He were to answer our 
prayers, we being in a wrong state of mind, it would 



CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 401 

deceive others very probably; for if they did not know 
us well, they would presume that we were in a right 
state, and might be led to consider those things in us 
right which are in fact wrong. 

Or, if they knew that we were wrong, and yet knew 
that God answered our prayers, what must they think 
of God ? They could not avoid the conclusion that 
He patronizes wrong-doing, and lifts up the smiles of 
his love upon iniquity; — and how grievous must be the 
influence of such conclusions! 

It should be borne in mind that God has a character 
to maintain. His reputation is a good to Himself, and 
He must maintain it as an indispensable means of sus- 
taining his moral government over other creatures. It 
could not be benevolent for Him to take a course which 
would peril his own reputation as a holy God and as a 
patron and friend of holiness and not of sin. 

3. God is well pleased when we remove the obstacles 
out of the way of his benevolence. Fie is infinitely 
good, and lives to do good, and for no other purpose — 
for no other end whatever — except to pour forth bless- 
ings upon his creatures wherever He can without peril 
to the well-being of other creatures under his care and 
love. He exists forever in a state of entire consecra- 
tion to this end. Such benevolence as this is infinitely 
right in God, and nothing less than this could be right 
for Him, 

Now, if it is his delight and his life to do good, how 
greatly must He rejoice when we remove all obstacles 
out of the way! How does his heart exult when 
another, and yet another, opportunity is afforded Him 



402 AN APPROVING HEART — 

of pouring out blessings in large and rich measure! 
Think of it, sinner, for it applies to you ! Marvellous 
as you may think it, and most strange as it may seem, 
— judged of by human rules and human examples, — 
yet of God it cannot fail of being always true that He 
delights supremely in doing you good, and only waits till 
you remove the obstacles; — then would his vast love 
break forth, and pour its ocean tides of mercy and of 
grace all around about you. Go and bow before your 
injured Sovereign in deep submission and real peni- 
tence, with faith also in Jesus for pardon, and thus put 
this matter to a trial ! See if you do not find that his 
mercies are high above the heavens ! See if anything 
is too great for his love to do for you ! 

And let each Christian make a similar proof of this 
amazing love. Place yourself where mercy can reach 
you without violating the glorious principles of Je- 
hovah's moral government; and then wait and see if you 
do not experience the most overwhelming demonstra- 
tions of his love ! How greatly does your Father above 
delight to pour out his mighty tides of blessings! Oh, 
He is never so well pleased as when He finds the chan- 
nel open and free for these great currents of blessings 
to flow forth upon his dear people! 

A day or two since, I received a letter from the man 
in whose behalf you will recollect that I requested your 
prayers at a late church prayer-meeting. This letter 
was full of precious interest. The Writer has long been 
a stranger to the blessedness of the gospel; but now he 
writes me, " I am sure you are praying for me, for within 



CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 403 

a week I have experienced a peace of mind that is new 
to me." 

I mention this now as another proof of the wonder- 
ful readiness of our Father in heaven to hear and an- 
swer prayer. Oh, what love is this ! To what shall I 
compare it? and how shall I give you any adequate view 
of its amazing fulness and strength? Think of a vast 
body of water, pent up and suspended high above our 
heads, pressing and pressing at every crevice to find an 
outlet where it may gush forth. Suppose the bottom 
of the vast Pacific should heave and pour its ocean 
tides over all the continents of the earth. This might 
illustrate the vast overflowings of the love of God; how 
grace and love are mounting up far and infinitely above 
all the mountains of your sins. Yes; let the deep, 
broad Pacific Ocean be elevated on high and there 
pent up, and then conceive of its pressure. How it 
would force its way and pour out its gushing floods 
wherever the least channel might be opened ! And 
you would not need to fear that your little wants would 
drain it dry! Oh, no! you would understand how 
there might be enough and to spare; how it might be 
said, "Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it ;" how the 
promises might read, Bring ye all the tithes into my 
store-house, and prove me now herewith, if I will not 
open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out 
blessings till there be not room enough to receive 
them. The great oceans of divine love are never 
drained dry. Let Christians but bring in their tithes 
and make ready their vessels to receive, and then, 
having fulfilled the conditions, they may "stand still 



404 AN APPROVING HEART — 

and see the salvation of God." Oh, how those moun- 
tain floods of mercy run over and pour themselves all 
abroad till every capacity of the soul is filled ! Oh, how 
your little vessels will run over and run over, as in the 
case of the prophet when the widow's vessels were all 
full, and he cried out, Oh, hasten, hasten! "Is there 
not another vessel?" Still the oil flows on — is there 
not another vessel? No more, she says; all are full; 
then and only then was the flowing oil stayed. How 
often have I thought of this in seasons of great revival, 
when Christians really get into a praying frame, 
and God seems to give them everything they ask for; 
until at length the prophet cries out, Is there not yet 
another vessel ? Oh, bring more vessels, more vessels 
yet, for still the oil is flowing and still runs over; — but 
ah, the church has reached the limit of her expectation 
— she has provided no more vessels: — and the heavenly 
current is stayed. Infinite love can bless no more ; for 
faith is lacking to prepare for and receive it. 

REMARKS. 

I. Many persons, being told that God answers 
prayer for Christ's sake, overlook the condition of 
obedience. They have so loose an idea of prayer, and 
of our relations to God in it, and of his relations to us 
and to his moral government, that they think they may 
be disobedient and yet prevail through Christ. How 
little do they understand the whole subject! Surely 
they must have quite neglected to study their Bible to 
learn the truth about prayer. They might very easily 
have found it there declared, " He that turneth away 



CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 405 

his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be 
an abomination." "The sacrifice of the wicked is an 
abomination to the Lord." " If I regard iniquity in my 
heart, the Lord will not hear me." All this surely 
teaches us that if there be the least sin in my heart, the 
Lord will not hear my prayer. Nothing short of entire 
obedience for the time being is the condition of accept- 
ance with God. There must be a sincere and honest 
heart — else how can you look up with humble confi- 
dence and say, My Father; else how can you use the 
name of Jesus, as your prevailing Mediator; — and else, 
how can God smile upon you before all the eyes of 
angels and of pure saints above! 

When men come before God with their idols set up 
in their hearts, and the stumbling-block of their iniq- 
uity before their face, the Lord says, "Should I be 
inquired of at all by them?" Read and see. (Ezekiel 
xiv. 3— 5.) The Lord commissions his prophet to de- 
clare unto all such, "I, the Lord, will answer him that 
cometh thus, according to the multitude of his idols." 
Such prayers God will answer by sending not a divine 
fulness, but a wasting leanness; not grace and mercy 
and peace, but barrenness and cursings and death. 

Do not some of you know what this is? You have 
found in your own experience that the more you pray, 
the harder your heart is. And what do you suppose 
the reason of this can be? Plainly there can be no 
other reason for it than 'this: You come up with the 
stumbling-block of your iniquity before your face, and 
God answers you according, not to his great mercies, 
but to the multitude of your idols. 



40 6 AN APPROVING HEART — 

Should you not take heed how you pray? 

2. Persons never need hesitate, because of their past 
sins, to approach God with the fullest confidence. If 
they now repent, and are conscious of fully and hon- 
estly returning to God with all their -heart, they have 
no reason to fear being repulsed from the footstool of 
mercy. 

I have sometimes heard persons express great aston- 
ishment when God heard and answered their prayers, 
after they had been very great and vile sinners. But 
such astonishment indicates but little knowledge of the 
matchless grace and loving kindness of our God. Look 
at Saul of Tarsus. Once a bitter and mad persecutor, 
proud in his vain Pharisaism; — but now repenting, re- 
turning, and forgiven; — mark what power he has with 
God in prayer. In fact, after penitence, God pardons 
so fully that, as his word declares, He remembers their 
iniquities no more. Then the Lord places the par- 
doned soul on a footing where he can prevail with God 
as truly and as well as any angel in heaven can ! So 
far as the Bible gives us light on this subject, we must 
conclude that all this is true. And why? Not because 
the pardoned Christian is more righteous than an an- 
gel; but because he is equally accepted with the purest 
angel, and has, besides, the merits and mediation of 
Jesus Christ, — all made available to him when he uses 
this all-prevalent name. Oh, there is a world of mean- 
ing in this so-little-thought-of arrangement for prayer 
in Jesus' name! The value of Christ's merits are all 
at your disposal. If Jesus Christ could obtain any 
blessing at the court of heaven, you may obtain the 



CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 407 

same by asking in his name — it being supposed of 
course that you fulfil the conditions of acceptable pray- 
er. If you come and pray in the spirit of Christ, — his 
Spirit making intercession with your spirit, and your 
faith taking hold of his all-meritorious name, — you may 
have his intercessions before the throne in your behalf, 
and whatever Christ can obtain there, He will obtain 
for you. Ask, therefore, now, — so Christ Himself in- 
vites and promises, — "ask and receive, that your joy 
may be full." 

Oh, what a vantage-ground is this upon which God 
has placed Christians ! Oh, what a foundation on which 
to stand and plead with most prevailing power! How 
wonderful 1 First, God bestows pardon, takes away 
the sting of death; restores peace of conscience and joy 
in believing; then gives the benefit of Christ's interces- 
sion; and then invites Christians to ask what they will! 
Oh, how mighty, how prevalent, might every Christian 
become in prayer ! Doubtless we may say that a 
church living with God, and fully meeting the condi- 
tions of acceptable prayer, might have more power 
with God than so many angels. And shall we hear 
professed Christians talk of having no power with 
God ! Alas, alas ! such surely know not their blessed 
birthright. They have not yet begun to know the 
gospel of the Son of God ! 

3. Many continue the forms of prayer when they 
are living in sin, and do not try to reform, and even 
have no sincere desire to reform. All such persons 
should know that they grievously provoke the Lord to 
answer their prayers with fearful judgments, 



408 AN APPROVING HEART — 

4. It is only those that live and walk with God 
whose prayers are of any avail to themselves, to the 
church, or to the world. Only those whose conscience 
does not condemn them, and who live in a state of 
conscious acceptance with God. They can pray. Ac- 
cording to our text, they receive whatever they ask, 
because they keep his commandments and do the 
things that are pleasing in his sight. 

5. When those who have been the greatest sinners 
will turn to God, they may prevail as really as if they 
had never sinned at all. When God forgives through 
the blood of Jesus, it is real forgiveness, and the par- 
doned penitent is welcomed as a child to the bosom of 
infinite love. For Jesus' sake God receives him 
without the least danger of its being inferred that Him- 
self cares not for sin. Oh, He told the universe once 
for all, how utterly He hated sin. He made this point 
known when He caused his well-beloved Son to bear 
our sins in his own body on the tree, and it pleased the 
Father to bruise Him and hide his face from even the 
Son of his love. Oh, what a beautiful, glorious thing 
this gospel system is ! In it God has made such man- 
ifestations of his regard for his law, that now He has 
nothing to fear in showing favor to any and every sin- 
ner who believes in Christ. If this believing sinner 
will also put away his sin; if he will only say, In the 
name of the Lord I put them all away- — all — now — for- 
ever; let him do this with all his heart, and God will 
not fear to embrace him as a son; — this penitent need 
fear nothing so long as he hides himself in the open 
cleft of this blessed Rock of ages. 



CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 409 

Look at the case of the prodigal son. Famished, 
ragged, poor, ready to perish, he remembers his fath- 
er's house and the plenty that abounds there; he comes 
to himself, and hence looks upon things once more ac- 
cording to their reality. Now he says: "In my fath- 
er's house there is bread enough and to spare, but here 
I am perishing with hunger." But why is he ready to 
perish with hunger ? Ah, he ran away from a bounti- 
ful and kind father, and soent all his substance in 
riotous living. But he comes to himself. There, see 
him drawing near his father's mansion — once his own 
derir home; — see; — the father rushes to embrace him; 
he hastens to make this penitent son most welcome to 
his home and to his heart. So God makes haste to 
show that Fie is not afraid to make the vilest sinner 
welcome if he only comes back a penitent and rests on 
the name of Jesus. Oh, what a welcome is this ! 

Follow on that beautiful illustration of it which the 
Saviour has given us. Bring forth the best robe. In- 
vite together ail our friends and neighbors. Prepare 
the music. Spread the table and kill the fatted calf. 
It is fit that we should make merry and be glad. 
Lead forward this long-lost son and put on him my 
best robe. Let there be joy throughout my house over 
my returned and penitent son. 

And what does all this show ? One thing — that 

there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, and 

joy in the very heart of God Himself, over one sinner 

that repenteth. Oh, I wonder sinners will not come 

home to their Father in heaven ! 

6. Sinner, if you w T ill come back to the Lord, you 
18 



4IO AN APPROVING HEART — 

may not only prevail for yourself, but for your associ- 
ates and friends. I was once in a revival where a 
large company of young men banded themselves to- 
gether under a mutual pledge that they would not be 
converted. Father Nash was with me in that revival 
season, and on one occasion, while the young men 
alluded to were all present, he made a declaration 
which startled me, and almost shocked himself. Yet, 
as he said afterward, he dared not take it back, for he 
did not know how he came to say it, and perhaps the 
hand of God might be in it. — " Young men," said he, 
" God will break your ranks within one week, or He 
will send some of you to hell." 

It was an awful time. We feared that possibly it 
might not prove to be so, and that then the result 
would be exceeding bad upon the minds of that already 
hardened band. But it was spoken, and we could only 
cry unto God. 

Time rolled along. About two or three days after 
this declaration was made, the leader of this band called 
to see me, all broken down and as mellow as he could be. 
As soon as he saw me, he cried out, What shall I do ? 
What are you thinking about ? said I. About my 
wicked companions, said he, — all of them in the way 
to hell. Do you pray for them ? I asked. Oh, yes, 
said he, I cannot help praying for them every moment. 
Well, then, said I, there is one thing mor£; go to them 
and entreat' them in Christ's name to be reconciled to 
God. He darted out of my room and began this 
work in earnest. Suffice it to say, that before the week 



CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 411 

was closed almost all of that band of young men were 
converted. 

And now let me say to the impenitent sinners in 
this assembly, If others do not labor to promote a re- 
vival, begin at once and do it yourself. Learn from 
such a case as I have just stated, what you can do. 
Don't you think you could do something of the great- 
est value to souls if you would seriously try ? Who is 
there here — let me see — what young man or young 
woman is there here now impenitent, — do not you be- 
lieve that if you would repent yourself, you might then 
go and pray and labor and secure the conversion of 
others, perhaps many others, of your companions ? 

Sinners are usually disposed to throw all the respon- 
sibility of this labor and prayer upon Christians. I 
throw it back upon you. Do right yourselves, and then 
you can pray. Do right, and then none can labor 
with more effect than yourselves in this great work of 
bringing back wandering prodigals to their father's 
house. 

Christian hearer, is it not a dreadful thing for you 
to be in a state in which you cannot prevail with God ? 
Let us look around; — how is it w T ith you ? Can you 
prevail with God; and you — and you ? Who are they, 
and how many are there, in such a state that their 
prayers avail nothing, and who know before they pray, 
and while they are praying, that they are in no fit state 
to offer prevailing prayer ? One of the brethren, you 
recollect, said to us at a recent church meeting. " I 
have lost my power to prevail with God. I know I am 



412 CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER. 

not ready for this work." How many others are there, 
still in the same awful condition ? 

Oh ! how many have we here who are the salt of the 
earth, whose prayers and redeeming influence save the 
community from becoming perfectly putrid with moral 
corruption ? I hope they will be found alive and at 
work in this trying hour. Oh ! we must have your 
prayers for the impenitent — for the anxious — for back- 
sliders; — or if you cannot pray — at least come together 
and confess your sins; — tell your brethren and sisters 
you cannot pray, and beg of them to pray for you that 
you may be brought back to the light and the peace 
and the penitence of real salvation. 



XXIII. 
ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 



" He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always 
to pray, and not to faint." — Luke xviii. I. 

IN discussing the subject of prayer, presented in our 
text, I propose to inquire, 

I. Why men should pray at all; 

II. Why men should pray always and not 

FAINT ; 

III. Why they do not pray always. 

/. Our dependence on God is universal, extending 
to all things. This fact is known and acknowledged. 
None but atheists presume to call it in question. 

Prayer is the dictate of our nature. By the voice of 
nature this duty is revealed as plainly as possible. We 
feel the pressure of our wants, and our instincts cry out 
to a higher power for relief in their supply. You may 
see this in the case of the most wicked man, as well as 
in the case of good men. The wicked, when in dis- 
tress, cry out to God for help. Indeed, mankind have 
given evidence of this in all ages and in every nation; — 
showing both the universal necessity of prayer, and that 
it is a dictate of our nature to look up to a God above. 

It is a primitive conviction of our minds that God 
does hear and answer prayer. If men did not assume 



414 ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 

this to be the case, why should they pray ? The fact 
that men do spontaneously pray, shows that they really 
expect God to hear prayer. It is contrary to all our 
original belief to assume that events occur under some 
law of concatenation, too rigid for the Almighty to 
break, and which He never attempts to adjust accord- 
ing to his will. Men do not naturally believe any such 
thing as this. 

The objection to prayer, that God is unchangeable, 
and therefore cannot turn aside to hear prayer, is alto- 
gether a fallacy and the result of ignorance. Consider 
what is the true idea of God's unchangeableness. 
Surely, it is not that his course of conduct never 
changes to meet circumstances; but it is this — that his 
cJiaracter never changes; that his nature and the prin- 
ciples which control his voluntary action remain eter- 
nally the same. All his natural, all his moral, attributes 
remain forever unchanged. This is all that can ration- 
ally be implied in God's immutability. 

Now, his hearing and answering prayer imply no 
change of character — no change in his principles of 
action. Indeed, if you ask why He ever answers 
prayer at all, the answer must be, Because He is un- 
changeable. Prayer brings the suppliant into new rela- 
tions to God's kingdom; and to meet these new rela- 
tions, God's unchangeable principles require Him to 
change the course of his administration. He answers 
prayer because He is unchangeably benevolent. It is 
not because his benevolence changes, but because it 
does not change, that He answers prayer. Who can 
suppose that God's answering prayer implies any change 



ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 415 

in his moral character? For example, if a man, in 
prayer, repents, God forgives; if he does not repent of 
present sin, God does not forgive; — and who does not 
see that God's immutability must require this course at 
his hands ? Suppose God did not change his conduct 
when men change their character and their attitude to- 
wards Him. This would imply fickleness — an utter 
absence of fixed principles. His unchangeable good- 
ness must therefore imply that, when his creatures 
change morally, He changes his course, and conforms 
to their new position. Any other view of the case is 
simply absurd, and only the result of ignorance. 
Strange that men should hold it to be inconsistent for 
God to change, and give rain in answer to prayer, or 
give any needed spiritual blessings to those who ask 
them ! 

Intercourse with God is a necessity of moral beings, 
demanded by creatures as a necessity of their natures. 
No doubt this is true in heaven itself, and the fact that 
this want of their natures is so gloriously supplied 
there, makes heaven. The Bible represents spirits in 
heaven as praying. We hear them crying out, "How 
long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and 
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ? " 
(Rev. vi. 10.) True, their subjects of prayer are not in 
all respects the same as ours: we have things to pray for 
which they have no occasion to ask for themselves. 
They are neither sick nor sinful; but can you suppose 
they never pray, " Thy kingdom come " ? Have they 
lost all sympathy with those interests of Zion ? Far 
from it. Knowing more of the value of those interests, 



416 ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 

they no doubt feel more deeply their importance, and 
pray more earnestly for their promotion. From the 
nature of the case, God's treatment of the inhabitants 
of heaven must be conditioned on their voluntarv 
course in regard to Him and his kingdom. It must be 
governed and determined by their knowledge, their 
progress in knowledge, and their improvement of 
the means and powers at their command. Obviously 
their voluntary worship, gratitude, thanksgiving, and 
service of every sort, must vary their relations to 
God, and consequently his course towards them. He 
will do many things to them and for them which He 
could not do if they did not pray, and praise, and 
love, and study, and labor. This must be true, even 
in heaven, of apostles and prophets, and of all glor- 
ified saints. God makes to them successive revela- 
tions of Himself, each successively higher than the pre- 
ceding, and all dependent on their voluntary devotion 
to Him and to his glory. They are forever advancing 
in his service, full of worship, praise, adoration, and this 
only prepares them the more to be sent on missions of 
love and service, and to be employed as the interests of 
God's kingdom require. Hence we see that God's 
conduct towards saints in heaven depends on their own 
voluntary course and bearing towards Him. This is a ne- 
cessity of any and every moral system. If saints in 
heaven are moral agents, and God's government over 
them is also moral, all these results must follow. In 
this world sin exists; and in this fact we see an obvious 
necessity for this law of moral administration. But 
the holy in heaven are no less moral and responsible 



ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 417 

than the sinning on earth. The great object of God's 
administration is to assimilate moral beings to Him- 
self; hence He must make his treatment of them depend 
on their moral course towards Him. 

In regard to saints on earth, how can God do them 
any good unless He can draw them to Himself in 
prayer and praise? This is one of the most evident 
necessities that can be. named. Men irresistibly feel 
the propriety of confession and supplication, in order 
to forgiveness. This feeling lies among the primitive 
affirmations of the mind. Men know that, if they 
would be healed of sin, they must seek and find God. 

II. But why pray so much and so often ? Why the 
exhortation to pray always and not to faint ? 

The case presented in the context is very strong. 
Whether it be history or supposition does not affect 
the merits of the case as given us to illustrate impor- 
tunity in prayer. The poor widow persevered. She 
kept coming and would not be discouraged. By dint 
of perseverance simply, she succeeded. The judge 
who cared not for God or man did care somewhat for 
his own comfort and quiet, and therefore thought it 
wise to listen to her story and grant her request. Upon 
this case our Lord seized, to enforce and encourage 
importunity in prayer. Hear his argument. "Shall 
not God," — who is by no means unjust, but whose 
compassions are a great deep, — " shall not such a God 
avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto Him, 
though He seem to bear long" in delaying to answer 
their prayers? "I tell you He will avenge them speed- 

ily." 
18* 



41 .8 ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 

1. Men ought to pray always, because they always 
need the influence of prayer. Consider what is im- 
plied in prayer and what prayer does for you. Prayer 
bathes the soul in an atmosphere of the divine pres- 
ence. Prayer communes with God and brings the 
whole mind under the hallowed influence of such com- 
munion. Prayer goes to God to seek pardon and find 
mercy and grace to help. How obvious, then, that 
we always need its influence on our hearts and lives! 
Truly, we need not wonder that God should enjoin 
it upon us to pray always. 

2. God needs prayer from us as a condition of his 
doing to us and for us all He would. He loves us, and 
sees a thousand blessings that we need, and that He 
would delight to bestow; but yet He cannot bestow 
them except on condition that we ask for them in 
Jesus' name. His treatment of us and his bestowment 
of blessings upon us must depend upon our views and 
conduct, — whether we feel our dependence on Him, 
whether we confess and forsake all sin, whether we 
trust Him and thoroughly honor Him in all things. 
His action towards us must depend upon our attitude 
towards Him. It is essential in the management of a 
moral system that we should pray and trust, in order 
that He may freely and abundantly give, and especially 
that He may give in a Avay safe to us and honorable to 
Himself. Nothing can be substituted for our own 
praying, either in its relations to God or to ourselves. 
We cannot get along without the personal benefit of 
prayer, confession, trust, and praise. You cannot sub- 
stitute instruction, ever so much or so good; for these 



ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 419 

things must enter into the soul's experience ; you must 
feel them before God, and carry out the life and power 
of these truths in your very heart before the Lord; 
else they are worse than unknown to you. You are 
not likely to understand many of these things without 
prayer; and even if you were to understand them, and 
yet not pray, the knowledge would only be a curse to 
you. 

What can be so useful to us, sinners, as direct com- 
munion with God — the searching of the heart which it 
induces — the humility, the confessions, the supplica- 
tions? Other things have their use. Instruction is 
good; reading God's word may be a blessing; commu- 
nion with the saints is pleasant; but what are they all, 
compared with personal intercourse with God ? Noth- 
ing else can make the soul so sick of sin, and so dead 
to the world. Nothing else breathes such spiritual life 
into the soul as real prayer. 

Prayer also prepares us the better to receive all bless- 
ings from God, and hence should be constant. 

Prayer pleases God as governor of the universe, be- 
cause it puts us in a position in which He can bless us 
and gratify his own benevolence. 

Search the history of the world, and you will find 
that where there has been most true prayer, and the 
soul has been most deeply imbued with the divine 
presence, there God has most abundantly and richly 
blessed the soul. Who does not know that holy men 
of old were eminent for usefulness and power according 
as they were faithful and mighty in prayer? 

The more we pray, the more shall we be enlightened; 



420 ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 

for surely they are most enlightened who pray most. 
If we go no farther in divine things than human reason 
can carry us, we get little indeed from God. 

The more men pray, the more they will love prayer, 
and the more will they enjoy God. On the other hand, 
the more we pray, — in real prayer, — the more will God 
delight in us. Observe this which I say — Delight ; the 
more will God truly DELIGHT in us. This is not mere- 
ly the love of benevolence, for God is benevolent to all; 
but He delights in his praying children in the sense of 
having complacency in their character. The Bible 
often speaks of the great interest which God takes in 
those who live near Him in much prayer. This is 
naturally and necessarily the case. Why should not 
God delight in those who delight in Him ? 

The more we pray, the more God loves to manifest 
to others that He delights in us, and hears our pray- 
ers. If his children live lives of much prayer, God de- 
lights to honor them, as an encouragement to others to 
pray. They come into a position in which Fie can 
bless them and can make his blessings on them result 
in good to others — thus doubly gratifying the benevo- 
lence of his heart. 

We can never reach a position in which we shall not 
need prayer. Who believes that saints in heaven will 
have no need of prayer? True, they will have perfect 
faith, but this, so far from precluding prayer, only the 
more ensures it. Men have strangely assumed, that if 
there were only perfect faith, prayer would cease. 
Nothing can be more false and groundless. Certainly, 
then, we never can get beyond prayer. 



ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 42 I 

If I had time I should like to show how the manner 
of prayer varies as Christians advance in holiness. 
They pray not less, but more, and they know better 
how to pray. When the natural life is mingled largely 
with the spiritual, there is an outward effervescing, 
which passes away as the soul comes nearer to God. 
You would suppose there is less excitement, and there 
is less of animal excitement; but the deep fountains of 
the soul flow in unbroken sympathy with God. 

We can never get beyond the point where prayer is 
greatly useful to us. The more the heart breathes 
after God, and rises towards Him in heavenly aspira- 
tions, the more useful do such exercises become. The 
aged Christian finds himself more and more benefited 
in prayer as he draws more and more near to God. 
The more he prays, the more he sees the wisdom and 
necessity of prayer for his own spiritual good. 

The very fact that prayer is so great a privilege to 
sinners makes it most honorable to God to hear prayer. 
Some think it disgraceful to God. What a sentiment! 
It assumes that God's real greatness consists in his 
being so high above us as to have no regard for us 
whatever. Not so with God. He who regards alike 
the flight of an archangel and the fall of a sparrow — 
before whose eye no possible event is too minute for 
his attention — no insect too small for his notice and 
his love, — his infinite glory is manifest in this very fact, 
that nothing is too lofty or too low for his regard. 
None are too insignificant to miss sympathy — none too 
mean to share his kindness. 

Many talk of prayer as only a duty, not a privilege; 



42 2 ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 

but with this view of it they cannot pray acceptably. 
When your children, full of wants, come running to you 
in prayer, do they come because it is a duty? No, in- 
deed ! They come because it is their privilege. They 
regard it as their privilege. Other children do not 
feel so towards you. And it is a wonderful privilege! 
Who does not know it and feel it to be so ? Shall we 
then ever fail to avail ourselves of it ? 

Finally, we are sure to prevail if we thoroughly perse- 
vere, and pray always, and do not faint. Let this suf- 
fice to induce perseverance in prayer. Do you need 
blessings ? and yet are they delayed ? Pray always 
and never faint; so shall you obtain all you need. 

III. Our third general inquiry is, Why do not men 
pray always ? Many reasons exist. 

i. In the case of some, because the enmity of their 
hearts towards God is such that they are shy, and dread 
prayer. They have so strong a dislike to God, they 
cannot make up their minds to come near to Him in 
prayer. 

2. Some are self-righteous and self-ignorant, and 
therefore have no heart to pray. Their self-righteous- 
ness makes them feel strong enough without prayer, 
and self-ignorance prevents their feeling their own real 
wants. 

3. Unbelief keeps others from constant prayer. 
They have not confidence enough in God as ready to 
answer prayer. Of course, with such unbelief in their 
hearts, they will not pray always. 

4. Sophistry prevents others. I have alluded to 
some of its forms. They say, God, being immutable, 



ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 423 

never changes his course; or they urge that there is no 
need of prayer, inasmuch as God will surely do just 
right, although nobody should pray. These are little 
sophistries, such as ignorant minds get up and stumble 
over. It is wonderful that any miuds can be so igno- 
rant and so unthinking as to be influenced by these 
sophistries. I can recollect how these objections to 
prayer came up many years since before my mind, but 
were instantly answered and set aside, they seemed so 
absurd. This, for instance, — that God had framed the 
universe so wisely that there is no need of prayer, and, 
indeed, no room for it. My answer was ready. What 
was God's object in making and arranging his universe? 
Was it to show Himself to be a good mechanic, so 
skilful that He can make a universe to run itself, with- 
out his constant agency? Was this his object? No ! 
But his object was to plant in this universe intelligent 
minds, and then reveal Himself to them, and draw 
them to love and trust their own infinite Father. This 
object is every way noble and worthy of a God. But 
the other notion is horrible ! It takes from God every 
endearing attribute, and leaves Him only a good me- 
chanic! 

The idea that God mingles his agency continually in 
human affairs, prevails everywhere among all minds in 
all ages. Everywhere they have seen God revealing 
Himself. They expect such revelations of God. They 
have believed in them, and have seen how essential 
this fact is to that confidence and love which belong to 
a moral government. It seems passing strange that 



424 ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 

men can sophisticate themselves into such nonsense as 
this! Insufferable nonsense are all such objections! 

On one occasion, when it had been very wet and 
came off suddenly very dry, the question arose, How 
can you vindicate the providence of God? At first 
the question stung me; I stopped, considered it a few 
moments, and then asked, What can his object be in 
giving us weather at all? Why does He send, or not 
send, rain? If the object be to raise as many potatoes 
as possible, this is not the wisest course. But if the 
object be to make us feel our dependence, this is the 
wisest course possible. What if God were to raise 
harvests enough in one year to supply us for the next 
ten ? We might all become atheists. We should be 
very likely to think we could live without God. But 
now, every day and every year, He shuts us up to de- 
pend on Himself. Who does not see that a moral 
government ordered on any other system would work 
ruin ? 

Another reason is, men have no real sense of sin 
or of any spiritual want; no consciousness of guilt. 
While in this state of mind, it need not be expected 
that men will pray. 

In the other extreme, after becoming deeply con- 
victed, they fall into despair and think it does no good 
to pray. 

Another reason for not praying much is found in 
self-righteous conceptions of what is requisite to suc- 
cess in prayer. One says, I am too degraded, and am 
not good enough to pray. This objection is founded 
altogether in self-righteous notions — assuming that your 



ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 425 

own goodness must be the ground or reason for God's 
hearing your prayer. 

A reason with many for little prayer is, their world- 
ly-mindedness. Their minds are so filled with thoughts 
of a worldly nature, they cannot get into the spirit of 
prayer. 

Again, in the case of some, their own experience 
discourages them. They have often prayed, yet with 
little success. This brings them into a sceptical atti- 
tude in regard to prayer. Very likely the real reason of 
their failure has been the lack of perseverance. They 
have not obeyed this precept which urges that men 
pray always, and never faint. 

REMARKS. 

I. It is no loss of time to pray. Many think it 
chiefly or wholly lost time. They are so full of busi- 
ness, they say, and assume that prayer will spoil their 
business. I tell you, that your business, if it be of such 
sort as ought to be done at all, will go all the better for 
much prayer. Rise from your bed a little earlier, and 
pray. Get time somehow — by almost any imaginable 
sacrifice, sooner than forego prayer. Are you study- 
ing ? It is no loss of time to pray, as I know very 
well by my own experience. If I am to preach, with 
only two hours for preparation, I give one hour to 
prayer. If I were to study anything — let it be Virgil 
or Geometry, I would by all means pray first. Prayer 
enlarges and illumines the mind. It is like coming into 
the presence of a master spirit. You know how some- 
times this electrifies the mind, and fires it with bound- 



426 ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 

less enthusiasm. So, and much the more, does real 
access to God. 

Let a physician pray a great deal; he needs counsel 
from God. Let the mechanic and the merchant pray 
much; they will testify, after trial of it, that God gives 
them counsel, and that, consequently, they lose noth- 
ing, and gain much, by constant prayer. 

2. None but an eminently praying man is a safe 
religious teacher. However scientific and literary, if 
he be not a praying man, he cannot be trusted. 

A spirit of prayer is of much greater value than hu- 
man learning without it. If I were to choose, I would 
prefer intercourse with God in prayer before the intel- 
lect of Gabriel. I do not say this to disparage the 
value of learning and knowledge, for when great talents 
and learning are sanctified with much prayer, the result 
is a mind of mighty power. 

Those who do not pray cannot understand the facts 
in regard to answers to prayer. How can they know ? 
Those things seem to them utterly incredible. They 
have had no such experience. In fact, all their expe- 
rience goes in the opposite direction. State a case to 
them; they look incredulous. Perhaps they will say, 
You seem to think you can prophesy and foreknow 
events ! Let them be answered, that " the secret of the 
Lord is with them that fear Him." Those who keep 
up a living intercourse with God know many things 
they do not tell, and had better not tell. When I was 
a young convert, I knew an aged lady whose piety and 
prayer seemed to me quite extraordinary. You could 
not feel like talking much in her presence; there was 



ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 427 

something in it that struck you as remarkable. The 
subject of sanctification came into discussion, and meet- 
ing me, on one occasion, she said, Charles, take care 
what you do ! Don't do things to be sorry for after- 
wards. A son of hers became a Christian and was 
astonished at the manifestations of his mother's 
piety. She had prayed for him long and most earn- 
estly. When, at length, his eyes were opened, she 
began to say, I did not tell anybody my experien- 
ces, but, in fact, I have known nothing about condem- 
nation for thirty years past. In all this time I am not 
aware that I have committed a known sin. My soul 
has enjoyed uninterrupted communion with God, and 
constant access to his mercy-seat in prayer. 

Prayer is the great secret of ministerial success. Some 
think this secret lies in talent or in tact; but it is not 
so. A man may know all human knowledge, yet, 
without prayer, what can he do ? He cannot move 
and control men's hearts. He can do nothing to pur- 
pose unless he lives in sympathy and open-faced com- 
munion with God. Only so can he be mighty through 
God to win souls to Christ. Here let me not be un- 
derstood to depreciate learning and the knowledge of 
God. By no means. But prayer and its power are 
much greater and more effective. Herein lies the 
great mistake of theological seminaries and of gospel 
ministers. They lay excessive stress on learning, and 
genius, and talents; they fail to appreciate duly the 
paramount importance of much prayer. How much 
better for them to lay the principal stress on bathing 
the soul in God's presence! Let them rely, first of all, 



428 ON PRAYING ALWAYS. 

on God, who worketh mightily in his praying servants 
through his Spirit given them; and, mediately, let 
them estimate above all. other means, prayer — prayer 
that is abundant, devout, earnest, and full of living 
faith. Such a course would be an effectual correction 
of one of the most prevalent and perilous mistakes of 
the age. 



XXIV. 
ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT 



" If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give 
him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 
or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much 
more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that 
ask him?" — Luke xi. n-13. 

THESE verses form the concluding part of a very- 
remarkable discourse of our Lord to his disciples 
on prayer. It was introduced by their request that He 
would teach them how to pray. In answer to this re- 
quest, He gave them what we are wont to call the Lord's 
Prayer, followed by a forcible illustration of the value 
of importunity, which He still further applied and en- 
forced by renewing the general promise, "Ask, and it 
shall be given you." Then to confirm their faith still 
more, He expands the idea that God is their Father, 
and should be approached in prayer as if He were an 
infinitely kind and loving parent. This constitutes the 
leading idea in the strong appeal made in our text. "If 
a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, 
will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for 
a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, 
will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, 
know how to give good gifts unto your children: how 



430 ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy 
Spirit to them that ask him?" 

1. Remarking upon this text, I first observe that, 
when we rightly understand the matter, we shall see 
that the gift of the Holy Ghost comprehends all we 
need spiritually. It secures to us that union with God 
which is eternal life. It implies conversion, which con- 
sists in the will's being submitted to God's control. 
Sanctification is (i) this union of the will to God per- 
fected and perpetuated; (2) the ascendancy of this 
state of the will over the entire sensibilities, so that the 
whole mind is drawn into union and sympathy with 
the mind and heart of God. 

2. It is supremely easy to obtain this gift from God. 
In other words, it is easy to obtain from God all spir- 
itual blessings that we truly need. If this be not so, 
what shall we think of these words of Christ? How 
can we by any means explain them consistently with 
fair truthfulness? Surely, it is easy for children to get 
really good things from their father. Which of you, 
being a father, does not know it to be easy for your 
children to get good things from you ? You know in 
your own experience that they obtain without difficulty, 
even from you, all the real good they need, provided it 
be in your power to give it. But you are sometimes 
"evil," and Christ implies that, since God is never evil, 
but always infinitely good, it is much more easy for one 
to get the Holy Spirit than even for your children to 
get bread from your hands. " Muck more!" What 
words of meaning in such a connection as this ! Every 
father knows there is nothing in the way of his children 



ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 43 1 

getting from him all the good things they really need 
and which he has to give. Every such parent values 
these good things for the sake of giving them to his 
children. For this, parents toil and plan for their chil- 
dren's sake. Can they then be averse or even slow to 
give these things to their children ? 

Yet God is much more ready to give his Spirit. My 
language, therefore, is not at all too strong. If God is 
much more ready and willing to give his children good 
things than you are to give to yours, then surely it must 
be easy, and not difficult, to get spiritual blessings, even 
to the utmost extent of our wants. 

Let this argument come home to the hearts of those 
of you who are parents. Surely, you must feel its force. 
Christ must be a false teacher if this be not so. It must 
be that this great gift, which in itself comprehends all 
spiritual gifts, is most easily obtained, and in any 
amount which our souls need. 

3. How very injurious and dishonorable' to God are 
the practical views of almost all men on this subject! 
The dependence of men on the Holy Spirit has come 
to be the standing apology for moral and spiritual de- 
linquency. Men everywhere profess to want the Holy 
Spirit, and, more or less, to feel their need, and to be 
praying for this gift; but continually and everywhere 
they complain that they do not get it. These com- 
plaints assume, both directly and indirectly, that it is 
very difficult to get this gift; — that God keeps his chil- 
dren on very low diet, and on the smallest possible 
amount even of that; that He deals out their spiritual 
bread and water in most stinted amount — as if He pur- 



43^ ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

posed to keep his children only an inch above starvation. 
Pass among the churches, and hear what they say and 
how they pray; — and what would you think? How 
would you be shocked at the strange, may I not say, 
blasphemous assumptions which they make concerning 
God's policy in giving, or rather not giving, the Holy 
Spirit to those that ask Him! I can speak from expe- 
rience and personal observation. When I began to at- 
tend prayer-meetings, this fact to which I have alluded 
struck me as very strange. I had never attended a 
prayer-meeting till I had come to manhood, for my 
situation in this respect was very unlike yours here. 
But after I came to manhood, and prayer-meetings 
were held in the place where I lived, I used to attend 
them very steadily. It was a matter of great interest 
to me, more than 1 can explain, or well express. I was 
filled with wonder to hear Christians pray, and the 
more so as I then began to read my Bible, and to find 
in it such things as we have in our text to-day. To 
read such promises, and then hear Christians talk, was 
surprising. What they did say, coupled with what they 
seemed to mean, would run thus : I have a duty to 
perform at this meeting: I cannot go away without 
doing it. I want to testify that religion is a good 
thing, — a very good thing, — although I have not got 
much of it. I believe God is a hearer of prayer, and 
yet I don't think He hears mine — certainly not to much 
purpose. I believe that prayer brings to us the Holy 
Spirit, and yet, though I have always been praying for 
this Spirit, 1 have scarcely ever received it. 

Such seemed to be the strain of their talking and 



ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 433 

thinking, and I must say that it puzzled me greatly. I 
have reason to know that it has often puzzled others. 
Within a few years past, I have found this to be the 
standing objection of unconverted men. They say, 
" I cannot hold out if I should be converted — it is so 
difficult to get and to keep the Holy Spirit." They 
appeal to professed Christians and say, Look at them: 
they are not engaged in religion; they are not doing 
their Master's work in good earnest, and they confess 
it; they have not the Spirit, and they confess it; they 
bear a living testimony that these promises are of very 
little practical value. 

Now, these are plain matters of fact, and should be 
deeply pondered by all professed Christians. The 
Christian life of multitudes is nothing less than a flat 
denial of the great truths of the Bible. 

Often, when I am urging Christians to be filled with 
the Holy Ghost, I am asked, Do you really think this 
gift is for me? Do you think all can have it who will? 
If you tell them of instances, here and there, of persons 
who walk in the light, and are filled with the Spirit, 
they reply, Are not those very special cases ? Are 
they not the favored few, enjoying a blessing that only 
a few can hope to enjoy ? 

Here you should carefully observe, that the question 
is not, whether few or many have this blessing; but, Is 
it practically within reach of all ? Is it indeed available 
to all ? Is the gift actually tendered to all in the fullest 
and highest sense? Is it easy to possess it? These 
being the real questions, we must see that the teach- 
ings of the text cannot be mistaken on this subject. 
19 



434 ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Either Christ testified falsely of this matter, or this gift 
is available to all, and is easily obtained. For, of the 
meaning and scope of his language, there can be no 
doubt. No language can be plainer. No illustrations 
could be more clear, and none could easily be found that 
are stronger. 

4. How shall we account for this impression, so ex- 
tensively pervading the church, that the Holy Spirit can 
rarely be obtained in ample, satisfying fulness, and 
then only with the greatest difficulty? 

This impression obviously grows out of the current 
experience of the church. In fact, but few seem- to 
have this conscious communion with God through the 
Spirit; but few seem really to walk with God and be 
filled with his Spirit. 

When I say few, I must explain myself to mean, 
few relatively to the whole number of professed Chris- 
tians. Taken absolutely, the number is great and al- 
ways has been. Sometimes, some have thought the 
number to be small, but they were mistaken. Elijah 
thought himself alone, but God gave him to under- 
stand that there were many — a host, spoken of as 
seven thousand — who had never bowed the knee to 
Baal. Ordinarily, such a use of the sacred number' 
seven, is to be taken for a large, indefinite sum, much 
larger than if taken definitely. It may be so here. 
Even then, in that exceedingly dark age, there were 
yet many who stood unflinchingly for God ! 

It is a curious fact that persons who have really the 
most piety are often supposed to have the least, so few 
there are who judge of piety as God does. Those who 



ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 435 

preach the real gospel are often refreshed to find some 
in almost every congregation who manifestly embrace 
it. You can judge by their very looks, — their eyes 
shine and their faces are all aglow — almost like- the 
face of Moses, descended from the mount. 

But theirs is not the common experience of pro- 
fessed Christians. The common one, which has served 
to create the general impression as to the difficulty of 
obtaining the Holy Spirit, is indeed utterly unlike this. 
The great body of nominal Christians have not the 
Spirit, within the meaning of Romans viii. They can- 
not say, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
hath made me free from the law of sin and death." 
It is not true of them that they "walk not after the 
flesh, but after the Spirit." Comparatively few of all 
know in their own conscious experience that they live 
and abide in the Spirit. 

Here is another fact. Many are praying — appar- 
ently — for the Spirit of God, but do not get it. If you 
go to a prayer-meeting, you hear everybody pray for 
this gift. It is so, also, in the family, and probably in 
the closet also. Yet, strange to tell, they do not get 
it. This experience of much prayer for this blessing, 
and much failure to get it, is everywhere common. 
Churches have their prayer-meetings, years and years 
in succession, praying for the Spirit, but they do not 
get it. In view of this fact, we must conclude, either 
that the promise is not reliable, or that the prayer does 
not meet the conditions of the promise. I shall take 
up this alternative by-and-by; just now, my business is 
to account for the prevalent impression that the Spirit 



436 ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

of God is hard to get and keep, even in answer to 
prayer, — a fact which obviously is accounted for by the 
current experience of nominal Christians. 

It should also be said that the churches have been 
taught that God is a sovereign, in such a sense that 
his gift of the Spirit is only occasional, and is then 
given without any connection with apparent causes — 
not dependent, by any means, on the fulfilment of con- 
ditions on our part. The common idea of sovereignty 
excludes the idea that God holds this blessing free to 
all, on condition of real prayer for it. I say real 
prayer, for I must show you by-and-by that much of 
the apparent praying of the church for the Spirit is 
not real prayer. It is this spurious, selfish praying that 
leads to so much misconception as to the bestowment 
of the Holy Spirit. 

Some of you may remember that I have related to 
you my experience at one time, when my mind was 
greatly exercised on this promise, — how I told the 
Lord I could not believe it. It was contrary to my 
conscious experience, and I could not believe anything 
which contradicted my conscious experience. At that 
time the Lord kindly and in great mercy rebuked my 
unbelief, and showed me that the fault was altogether 
mine, and in no part his. 

Multitudes pray for the Spirit as I had done, and are 
in like manner disappointed because they do not get it. 
They are not conscious of being hypocrites; but they 
do not thoroughly know their own spirits. They 
think they are ready to make any sacrifices to obtain 
it. They do not seem to know that the difficulty is 



ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 437 

all with them. They fail to realize how rich and full 
the promise is. It all seems to them quite unaccount- 
able that their prayer should not be answered. Often 
they sweat with agony of mind in their efforts to solve 
this mystery. They cannot bear to say that God's 
word is false, and they cannot see that it is true. It is 
apparently contradicted by their experience. This fact 
creates the agonizing perplexity. 

5. In the next place, how can we reconcile this ex- 
perience with Christ's veracity? How can we explain 
this experience according to the facts in the case, and 
yet show that Christ's teachings are to be taken in 
their obvious sense, and are strictly true? 

I answer, What is here taught as to prayer must be 
taken in connection with what is taught elsewhere. For 
example, what is here said of asking must be taken in 
connection with what is said of praying in faith — with 
what is said by James of asking and not receiving be- 
cause men ask amiss, that they may consume it upon 
their lusts. If any of you were to frame a will or a 
promissory note, binding yourself or your administrators 
to pay over certain moneys, on certain specified condi- 
tions, you would not think it necessary to state the 
conditions more than once. Having stated them dis- 
tinctly once, you would go on to state in detail the 
promise; but you would not expect anybody to sepa- 
rate the promise from the condition, and then claim the 
promise without having fulfilled the condition, and even 
perhaps accuse you of falsehood because you did not 
fulfil the promise when the conditions had not been 
met. 



438 ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Now, the fact is that we find, scattered throughout 
the Bible, various revealed conditions of prayer. Who- 
ever would pray acceptably must surely fulfil not merely 
a part, but all of these conditions. Yet in prac- 
tice, the church, to a great extent, have overlooked, 
or at least have failed to meet these conditions. For 
example, they often pray for the Holy Spirit for selfish 
reasons. This is fearfully common. The real motives 
are selfish. Yet they come before God and urge their 
request often and long, — perhaps with great importu- 
nity; yet they are selfish in their very prayers, and God 
cannot hear. They are not in their inmost souls ready 
to do or to suffer all God's holy will. God calls some 
of his children through long seasons of extremest suf- 
fering, obviously as a means of purifying their hearts; 
yet many pray for pure hearts, and for the Spirit to 
purify their hearts, who would rebel at once if God 
should answer their prayers by means of such a course 
of providence. Or God may see it necessary to crucify 
your love of reputation, and for this end may subject 
you to a course of trial which will blow your reputa- 
tion to the winds of heaven. Are you ready to hail 
the blessings of a subdued, unselfish heart, even though 
it be given by means of such discipline? 

Often your motive in asking for the Spirit is merely 
personal comfort and consolation — as if you would live 
all your spiritual life on sweetmeats. Others ask for it 
really as a matter of self-glorification. They would like 
to have their names emblazoned in the papers. It would 
be so gratifying to be held up as a miracle of grace — as 
a most remarkable Christian. Alas, how many, in va- 



ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 439 

rious forms of it, are only offering selfish prayers! Even 
a minister might pray for the Holy Spirit from only sin- 
ister motives. He might wish to have it said that he is 
very spiritual, or a man of great spiritual power in his 
preaching or his praying; or he might wish to avoid that 
hard study to which a man who has not the Spirit must 
submit, since the Spirit does not teach him, nor give him 
unction. He might almost wish to be inspired, so easy 
would this gift make his preaching and his study. He 
might suppose that he really longed to be filled with the 
Spirit, while really he is only asking amiss, to consume 
it on some unhallowed desire. A student may pray for 
the Spirit to help him study, and yet only his ambition 
or his indolence may have inspired that prayer. Let it 
never be forgotten, we must sympathize with God's rea- 
sons for our having the Spirit, as we would hope to pray 
acceptably. There is nothing mysterious about this 
matter. The great end of all God's spiritual adminis- 
trations towards us in providence or grace is to divest 
us of selfishness, and to bring our hearts into harmony 
with his in the spirit of real love. 

Persons often quench the Spirit even while they are 
praying for it. One prays for the Spirit, yet that very 
moment fails to notice the Spirit's monitions in his own 
breast, or refuses to do what the Spirit would lead and 
press him to do. Perhaps they even pray for the Spirit, 
that this gift may be a substitute for some self-denying 
duty to which the Spirit has long been urging them. 
This is no uncommon experience. Such persons will 
be very likely to think it very difficult to get the Spirit. 
A woman was going to a female prayer-meeting, an< 



440 ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

thought she wanted the Holy Spirit, and would make 
that her special errand at that meeting. Yet when 
there, the Spirit pressed her to pray audibly and she 
resisted, and excused herself. 

It is common for persons to resist the Spirit in the 
very steps He chooses to take. They would make the 
Spirit yield to them; He would have them yield to Him. 
They think only of having their blessings come in the 
way of their own choosing; He is wiser and will do it 
in his own way or not at all. If they cannot accept 
of his way, there can be no agreement. Often when 
persons pray for the Spirit, they have in their minds 
certain things which they would dictate to Him as to 
the manner and circumstances. Such ought to know 
that if they would have the Spirit, they must accept 
Him in his own way. Let Him lead, and consider that 
your business is to follow. Thus it not unfrequently 
happens that professed Christians maintain a perpetual 
resistance against the Holy Spirit, even while they are 
ostensibly praying for his presence and power. When 
He would fain draw them, they are thinking of dictat- 
ing to Him, and refuse to be led by Him in his way. 
When they come really to understand what is implied 
in being filled with the Spirit, they draw back. It is 
more and different from what they had thought. That 
is not what they wanted. 

REMARKS. 

I. The difficulty is always, and all of it, in us, not 
in God. You may write this down as a universal 
truth, from which there can be no exceptions. 



ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 44 1 

2. The difficulty lies in our voluntary state of mind, 
and not in anything which is involuntary and beyond 
our control. Therefore, there is no excuse for our re- 
taining it, and it should be at once given up. 

There is no difficulty in our obtaining the Holy Spirit 
if we are willing to have it; but this implies a willing- 
ness to surrender ourselves to his direction and dis- 
cretion. 

3. We often mistake other states of mind for a wil- 
lingness to have the Spirit of God. Nothing is more 
common than this. Men think they are willing to be 
filled with the Spirit, and to have that Spirit do all its 
own work in the soul; but they are really under a great 
mistake. To be willing to be wholly crucified to the 
world and the world unto us, is by no means common. 
Many think they have a sort of desire for this state, who 
would really shrink from it if they saw the reality 
near at hand. That persons do make continual mis- 
takes, and think themselves willing to be fully con- 
trolled by the Spirit, when they are not, is evident from 
their lives. The will governs the life, and therefore, 
the life must be an infallible index of the real state of 
the will. As is the life, so is the will, and therefore, 
when you see the life alien from God, you must infer 
that the will is not wholly consecrated to his service — 
is not wholly in sympathy with God's will. 

4. When the will is really on God's altar, entirely 

yielded up to God's will in all respects, one will not 

wait long ere he has the Spirit of God in the fullest 

measure. Indeed, this very consecration itself implies 

a large measure of the Spirit, yet not the largest meas- 
19* 



442 ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

ure. The mind may not be conscious of that deep 
union with God into which it may enter. The knowl- 
edge of God is a consciousness of God in the soul. 
You may certainly know that God's Spirit is within 
you, and that his light illumines your mind. His pres- 
ence becomes a conscious reality. 

The manner in which spiritual agencies other than 
human manifest themselves in the mind of man, seems 
to some very mysterious. It is not necessary that we 
should know how those agencies got access to our 
minds; it suffices us to know, beyond all question, that 
they do. Christians sometimes know that the devil 
brings his own thoughts into the very chambers of their 
souls. Some of you have been painfully conscious of 
this. You have been certain that the devil has poured 
out his spirit upon you. Most horrid suggestions are 
thrust upon your mind — such as your inmost soul ab- 
hors, and such as could come from no other, and cer- 
tainly from no better, source than the devil. 

Now, if the devil can thus make us conscious of his 
presence and power, and can throw upon our souls his 
own horrid suggestions, may not the Spirit of God re- 
veal his? Nay, if your heart is in sympathy with his 
suggestions and monitions, may He not do much more? 
Surely none can doubt that He can make his presence 
and agency a matter of positive consciousness. That 
must be a very imperfect and even false view of the case 
which supposes that we can be conscious of nothing 
but the operations of our own minds. Men are often 
conscious of Satan's thoughts, as present to their minds: 
— a fact which Bunyan well illustrated where he sup- 



ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 443 

poses Christian to be alarmed by some one whispering 
in his ear behind him, and pouring horrid blasphemies 
into his mind. Cases often occur like the following: 
A man came to me in great distress, saying, " I am no 
Christian, I know of a certainty. My mind has been 
filled with awful thoughts of God." "But were those 
awful thoughts your own thoughts, and did you cherish 
them and give your assent to them? "No, indeed; 
nothing could have agonized me more." "That is the 
work of the devil*," said I. "Well," said he, "perhaps 
it is, and yet I had not thought of it so before." 

So God's Spirit within us may become no less an 
object of our distinct consciousness. And if you do 
truly and earnestly wait on God, you shall be most 
abundantly supplied of his fulness. 

5. To be filled with the Holy Ghost, so that He 
takes full possession of our souls, is what I mean by 
sanctification. This glorious work is wrought by the 
Spirit of God; and that Spirit never can take full and 
entire possession of our hearts without accomplishing 
this blessed work. 

I do not wonder that those persons deny the exist- 
ence of any such state as sanctification who do not 
know anything of being filled with the Holy Ghost. 
Ignoring his glorious agency, we need not wonder that 
they have no knowledge of his work in the soul. 

6. Often the great difficulty in the way of Christian 
progress is an utter want of watchfulness. Some are 
so given to talking that they cannot hold communion 
with the Spirit of God. They have no leisure to listen 
to his "still small voice." Some are so fond of laugh- 



444 ON PRAYER FOR THE- HOLY SPIRIT. 

ter, it seems impossible that their minds should ever 
be in a really serious frame. In such a mind, how can 
the Spirit of God dwell? Often in our theological dis- 
cussions, I am pained to see how difficult it is for per- 
sons engaged in dispute and mutual discussion to 
avoid being chafed. Some of them are watchful and 
prayerful against this temptation, yet sometimes, we 
see persons manifestly fall before this temptation. If 
Christians do not shut down the gate against all abuse 
of the tongue, and, indeed, against every form of selfish- 
ness, there is no hope that they will resist the devil and 
the world so far as to be conquerors at last. 

7. The Spirit of God troubles or comforts us, accord- 
ing as we resist or receive this great gift. The gospel 
scheme was purposed for the end of accomplishing 
this complete union and sympathy between our souls 
and God, so that the soul should enjoy God's own 
peace, and should be in the utmost harmony with its 
Maker and Father. Hence it is the great business of 
the Spirit to bring about this state. If we concur, and 
if our will harmonizes with his efforts, He comforts us; 
if we resist, He troubles us; — a struggle ensues: — if, in 
this struggle, we come to understand God, and submit, 
then his blessings come freely and our peace is as a 
river; but so long as we resist, there can be no fruit of 
the Spirit's labor to us, but rebuke and trouble. To 
us He cannot be the author of peace and comfort. 

8. How abominable to God it must be for the 
church to take ground, in regard to the Spirit, which 
practically denies the truth of this great promise in our 
text! How dreadful that Christians should hold and 



ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 445 

teach that it is a hard thing to be really religious ! 
What abominable unbelief! How forcibly does the 
church thus testify against God before the world ! 
You might as well burn your Bible as deny that it is 
the easiest thing in the world to get the gift of the 
Spirit. And yet, strange to tell, some hold that God 
is so sovereign, and is sovereign in such a sense, that 
few can get the Spirit at all, and those few only as it 
may happen, and not by any means as the result of 
provision freely made and promise reliably revealed, on 
which any man's faith may take hold. Oh, how does 
this notion of sovereignty contradict the Bible ! How 
long shall it be so ? 

Do you, young people, really believe that your 
young hearts may be filled with the Spirit? Do you 
really believe, as our text says, that God is more will- 
ing to give his Spirit to those that ask Him, than your 
own father or mother would be to give you good 
things ? Many of you are here, far from your parents. 
But you know that even your widowed mother, much 
as she may need every cent of her means for herself, 
would gladly share the last one with you if you needed 
it. So would your earthly father. Do you really be- 
lieve that God is as willing as they — as ready; — as lov- 
ing? Nay, is He not much more so? as much more as 
He is better than your father or your mother? And 
now, do you really need and desire this gift of the 
Spirit? And if you do, will you come and ask for it in 
full confidence that you have a real Father in heaven ? 

Do you find practical difficulties ? Do you realize 
how much you dishonor God if you refuse to believe 



446 ON PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

his word of promise? Some of you say, I am so poor 
and so much in debt, I must go away and work some- 
where and get money. But you have a father who has 
money enough. Yes; but he will not help me. He 
loves his money more than he loves his son. Would 
not this be a great scandal to your father — a living dis- 
grace to him? Surely, it would; — and you would be 
so keenly sensible of this that you would not say it if 
it were not very true, nor then unless some very strong 
circumstances seemed to require of you the painful tes- 
timony. If your mother, being amply able, yet would 
not help you in your education or in your sickness, 
you would hardly tell of it — so greatly would it dis- 
credit her character. 

And now will you have the face to say, God don't 
love me; He don't want to educate me for heaven; He 
utterly refuses to give me the Holy- Spirit although I 
often ask Him and beseech Him to do so ? Will you 
even think this? And can you go even farther and act 
it out before all the world? Oh, why should you thus 
dishonor your own God and Father ! 



XXV. 

AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE 
WICKED CONTRASTED. 



"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for 
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." — 2 Cor. iv. 17. 
Read also Psalms lxxiii. 

FEW things are more interesting than to contem- 
plate the contrast everywhere drawn in the Bible 
between the righteous and the wicked. No man can 
thoroughly study this contrast without being greatly 
affected by it. Throughout the Bible we find this con- 
trast drawn in the strongest colors respecting their 
character, their afflictions, their joys, their entire earthly 
course, and their final destiny. It is my design in this 
discourse to notice some particulars. 

Our text from St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians 
speaks of the righteous. It affirms that their afflic- 
tions are light, are transient, and productive of aug- 
mented glory. We have another passage of similar 
import which asserts that " all things work together for 
good to them that love God." 

The Bible throughout holds language directly oppo- 
site to this, respecting the wicked. 

I. But I am, first, to give a few particulars respect- 
ing the case of the righteous. 



448 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

I. They have afflictions. This is asserted and im- 
plied throughout the Bible. And the whole course of 
God's providence in every age teaches the same things. 
The best saints are chastened. Affliction is not exclu- 
ded from their cup because of their piety. Their af- 
flictions may be in themselves as painful — may be as 
frequent and as long protracted — as those which befall 
the wicked. 

The book of Job shows that formerly this fact was 
greatly misunderstood. In those times of comparative 
darkness, when the light of written revelation had 
scarcely begun to fall upon the nations, some men, 
even some good men, seemed not to have understood 
the meaning of the divine dispensation towards the 
righteous. 

But I have several specific points of remark to make 
respecting the afflictions of the righteous. 

(i) They are light. Paul calls it, "Our light afflic- 
tion." This, you will observe, is a term of compari- 
son. We need therefore to inquire with what our af- 
flictions are to be compared in order to be reasonably 
deemed light. 

Obviously the afflictions of the righteous are light 
compared with what they know and feel that them- 
selves deserve. This is one of the considerations which 
make their afflictions seem, in their own view, to be 
light. 

Their afflictions are not said to be light compared 
with those of the wicked; but they are light, and every 
real saint feels them to be so, compared with what him- 
self deserves. 



AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED. 449 

Again, they are light compared with what Christ 
suffered in working out our salvation. Whenever we 
think of Christ's circumstances, apprehending in some 
measure his trials from being rejected of his people, 
from the unbelief and fickleness of his professed 
friends, from the wickedness and coming ruin of his 
nation (which He could neither remedy nor avert), 
from the malice of his murderers, and from his posi- 
tion as our sacrifice, — when, I say, we duly apprehend 
such points as these, we always see that all our own 
utmost afflictions are light compared with his. I have 
never yet seen a Christian who did not feel this when re- 
minded of the sufferings endured by Christ in his 
earthly afflictions. 

Again, these afflictions are light when compared 
with those that await the wicked. Compared with 
those, they are too small to admit of being estimated 
as anything at all. They are less than the fine dust of 
the balance. 

In the same view, these afflictions of the righteous 
are light compared with what themselves must have 
suffered if Christ had not suffered in their stead, and 
if they should not, by the discipline of suffering here, 
be so purified that God can take them to heaven at 
death. It is well for all Christians to consider both 
these points; namely, how the sufferings of Christ 
have saved them from the terrible necessity of ever- 
lasting anguish, and also how the moral discipline of 
suffering here may perform a most important and in- 
dispensable agency in preparing the soul for exemp- 
tion from all further suffering in a world of peace 



450 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

and joy. Then you will see how light your afflictions 
are compared with what they might have been, and in- 
deed must have been, if God had forborne to adopt the 
great remedial system. 

(2) I must pass to remark that these afflictions of 
the righteous are short. They are short compared 
with eternity; short compared with what we deserve 
that they should be; short compared with the meas- 
ureless duration of the sufferings of the wicked. Let 
their duration be compared with any of these points, 
and you cannot fail to see that they are indeed but for 
a moment. 

(3) All these afflictions of the righteous are, in re- 
spect to them, means of grace. So the apostle implies. 
In his view they "work for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory." They do this only as they 
serve to prepare the soul for glory; — by no means be- 
cause they merit a reward of glory. But in their dis- 
ciplinary character and results, they work for the Chris- 
tian a weight of glory which infinitely exceeds all the 
weight of the afflictions themselves. 

(4) The perceived design and tendency of these af- 
flictions rob them of their sting. When the people of 
God see this design and this tendency, they feel more 
like embracing and kissing the rod than like repelling 
it. Indeed it usually happens that they can testify 
after the scene of trial is past, "It is good for me that 
I have been afflicted. Before I was afflicted I went 
astray, but now have I kept thy word." And often, 
while passing through the very furnace, the conviction 
that the hand of their own Father is in it; that it is 



And the wicked contrasted. 451 

designed for their good; and if they will fall in with 
this kind design, it cannot fail to do them infinite good, 
— these thoughts serve to sustain them, so that not so 
much as the smell of fire is on them. Or to change 
the figure, these thoughts, dropped as an anodyne into 
the cup of their sorrows, transform what else had been 
gall and wormwood, to the sweetness of honey. 

(5) A consciousness of their own ill-desert serves to 
inspire patience and submission. Let the Christian 
only realize this, and he will cry out, All these afflic- 
tions are nothing compared to what I have deserved at 
the hand of God. I cannot murmur. All this is no 
suffering at all when seen in the light of my deservings. 

(6) The fact that they are so short makes them ap- 
pear so light. With almost universal application, it 
maybe said of the afflictions of the righteous, "Weep- 
ing may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the 
morning." A night of unbroken sorrow may appear 
long; but soon the morning comes in its joy, the night 
of anguish is forgotten. What Christian does not 
know this ? Where is the Christian who has not had this 
written out in his own experience? Hence, under the 
heaviest pressure of affliction, he can still expostulate 
with his own despondencies, "Why art thou cast down, 

my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me; 
hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him who is 
the health of my countenance and my God." 

I can well recollect that, before my own conversion, 

1 was deeply struck with this, that Christians were the 
only persons in the world who had any reason to be 
joyful. I could easily see that they had consolations 



452 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

which none others had. I saw that nothing could pos- 
sibly befall them which could ultimately be an evil. 
All things, I saw, must work good, and nothing but good 
for them. Reading such passages as our text, showed 
me plainly that all was well for them, and that they 
alone, of all men on the earth, had a legitimate right 
to be joyful. 

The opposite, I saw, must be true in every instance 
in the case of the wicked. All these thoughts passed, 
often through my mind while in my law office. Even 
then I could not help thinking intensely on these points, 
nor could I help seeing the force and the bearing of 
earthly afflictions to curse the wicked and to bless and 
not harm the righteous. In this state of my mind, I 
did not perhaps quite envy Christians their lot, but I 
felt that none but they had any reason to be cheerful. 
The sinner, I plainly saw, had no business to be 
cheerful. Nothing could benefit his condition and " 
prospects but to howl and mourn in most hopeless 
anguish. Nothing but ill was on him; nothing but ill 
yet more awful was before him. 

Nor in my case did those views result from a state 
of melancholy or depression of spirits. I never had 
any tendencies of that sort. These convictions were 
the result of sober and intense thought. I studied the 
great questions of the Christian religion intensely, and 
I could not fail of being deeply impressed with the 
mighty contrast between the state of the righteous even 
in this world, and that of the wicked. 

My situation in regard to early religious instruction, 
was rather peculiar. I heard no preaching but the 



AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED. 453 

strongest form of Old Schoolism, and had to grope my 
way along through all its absurdities, and think out all 
my religious opinions in the very face of all the preach- 
ing I heard in my earliest years. This led me to think 
deeply and thoroughly upon the great points of the 
Christian life. Hence, when I saw a sinner in his sins, 
I could see nothing cheerful in his case. All was full 
of gloom. But a Christian — what if he does suffer 
now? All will soon be well. His sufferings are soon 
over. Who can help seeing this? It seems to me 
now, as it did then, quite impossible for any thinking 
man to avoid thinking on this subject, and if he thinks 
at all, how can he fail of being struck with the immense 
contrast between the case of the righteous and that of 
the wicked? 

2. The joys of the saints are only the beginning of 
heaven. The Bible does not represent them as being 
short, like their sorrows; but represents their joys as 
long, and their grief as short. Their joys are enduring, 
deep, full, fadeless; not light and fleeting, as are those 
of the sinner. 

II. I pass, in the next place, to remark that pre- 
cisely the opposite in every respect is said in the Bible 
of the sinner. To show this I will read you the seven- 
ty-third Psalm. I select this, not because it is more 
striking or more decisive than many other passages in 
the Bible on the same subject, but because it brings out 
more distinctly the very truths I wish to lay before you. 

It appears that before the volume of written revela- 
tion was filled up, and before men had learned to in- 
terpret the providences of God as now, in the light of 



454 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

revelation, we are enabled to do, some men were 
greatly perplexed with the course of divine providence 
towards the righteous and the wicked. Such seems to 
have been for a time the case with the writer of this 
seventy-third Psalm. "Truly," he says, "truly God is 
good to Israel; " — "truly," — as if the conviction had 
just now become fixed in his mind, and he had just 
learned this fact, so long obscured in darkness, — "truly 
God is good to such as are of a clean heart. But 
as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had 
well-nigh slipped." What was the matter? He pro- 
ceeds at once to tell us. " For I was envious at 
the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 
For there are no bands in their death; but their 
strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other 
men; neither are they plagued like other men." He 
evidently speaks not of all wicked men, for some of 
them have trouble as other men have; but he speaks 
of the prosperous classes — of those who seem, during 
much of their life, to have all that heart can wish. 
" Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; 
violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes 
stand out with fatness; they have more than heart 
could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly 
concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They 
set their mouth against the heavens ; and their 
tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his 
people return thither; and waters of a full cup are 
wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God 
know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? 
Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the 



AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED. 455 

world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed 
my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency." 
It is all in vain, he says, for me to have washed my 
hands from sin, and to have denied myself its pleasures, 
for I have been sorely plagued notwithstanding — 
more sorely even than most of these wicked men; — 
"for all the day long have I been plagued, and chas- 
tened every morning." But at this point he checks 
himself; — it strikes his mind that to talk in this strain 
will be a stumbling-block to God's people"; it will 
throw them into the same state of perplexity and re- 
pining; and he sees instantly that this will not answer. 
What then shall I do? says he, "When I thought to 
know this, it was too painful for me;" I was yet more 
painfully perplexed; I dared not speak out my feelings, 
lest I should offend the generation of God's children. 
And yet my heart was hot within me, and how could 
I refrain from speaking out the deep, burning perplex- 
ities of my soul? "It was too painful for me until I 
went into the sanctuary of God;" I knew not how to 
solve this mystery, that I should have so many troubles 
and the wicked so few — "until I went to the sanctuary, 
then I understood their end." "Surely Thou didst set 
them in slippery places; Thou castedst them down into 
destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as 
in a moment ! they are utterly consumed with terrors. 
As a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when Thou 
awakest, Thou shalt despise their image. Thus my 
heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So 
foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before 
Thee." I was stupid as a beast; why did I not under^ 



456 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

stand before this that the triumphing of the wicked is 
short, and that their richest joys terminate almost in a 
a twinkling, in everlasting desolation and anguish ? 
"Nevertheless, I am continually with Thee; Thou hast 
holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me 
with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory." 
"Thou shalt guide me" — what a blessing to have the 
infinitely wise God for a guide! "Whom have I in 
heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I 
desire besides Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth; 
but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion 
forever. For, lo, they that are far from Thee shall 
perish, Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring 
from Thee. But it is good for me to draw near to 
God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may 
declare all thy works." 

We see now that, if sinners are joyful, the Bible rep- 
resents their joy as only for a moment. I might quote 
passages almost without number to prove this. But 
there is no need that I should. 

On the other hand, the Bible shows that when Chris- 
tians are afflicted it is but for a moment, and that their 
afflictions are light also. Oh, how light compared with 
the full lot of the wicked ! 

But what of the wicked man; is he joyful? Yes; he 
has a feverish excitement and he calls it joy, but it can- 
not last; it vanishes away ere- he has done quaffing off 
the mere foam of his pleasure-cup. Light too are all 
his joys — light as air; in their very nature they never 
can be solid and substantial; they are as the chaff which 
the wind drives away. Sinner, you know there is noth- 



AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED. 457 

ing in them worthy of the name of joy. You know 
they are vain, false, fickle, unsatisfactory; the first breath 
of adversity scatters them all; disappointment has hid- 
den her sting beneath their fairest flowers. You have 
known all this in your own sad experience, and yet you 
are loath to admit it, and more loath still to act as if 
it were true. 

Again, the sinner's joys are only the means of aggra- 
vating his future sorrows. Instead of being, as in the 
case of the righteous, an antepast of heaven, they are 
a prelude to hell. Every joy of the sinner in this 
world is a fruit of God's mercy, and every such mercy 
abused will be prolific in wrath and torments in the 
world of retribution. God will visit for all those 
abused mercies. 

Then, moreover, those joys of earth will be food 
for thought in that world of tormenting self-reflections. 
Conscious guilt for mercies abused will harrow up the 
soul of the lost sinner with unutterable pangs. 

Yet again, every sinner knows that his good things 
are the opposite of what he deserves. The sweet con- 
sciousness of integrity, and of deserving well at the 
hand of God, he never has, or can have. He knows 
that all in his case is ill-desert — desert of utter and 
unmingled sorrows. 

Once more. In the hour of trial, how great the 
contrast between the afflictions of the wicked and those 
of the righteous! The wicked man under his afflic- 
tions can only say, if his eyes are open, These are 
•only the beginnings of my sorrow. I have only just 

20 



45 8 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

begun to drink the bitter cup, the dregs of which are to 
be my portion forever and ever. 

Yes; the wicked must bear their sufferings in this 
life, comfortless and unsustained. No Christian's hope 
gladdens and cheers their heart. No solace can they 
have in the bitter hour. Faith in Christ is with them 
entirely out of the question; they can think of Christ 
only as the being whose blood they have trampled un- 
der foot — whose mediation for sinners they have set at 
naught; and now they can hear Him say only this, 
" Because I have called, and ye refused, therefore when 
ye call, I will not answer." It avails nothing to speak 
to them of Jesus. The name soothes not their aching 
bosoms; it only harrows up their souls with more bit- 
ter self-reproaches, and keener despair. No hope have 
they — certainly no good hope through grace; for they 
have set all grace at naught. 

Thus the very opposite things are true of their afflic- 
tions which are true in the case of the righteous. While 
the afflictions of the righteous are light, because of his 
buoyant, trusting, submissive, peaceful state of mind; 
the afflictions of the wicked are heavy, because of his 
wicked state of mind. He has no power to resist and 
bear up under them. 

Suppose an ungodly man is visited with bereave- 
ment. His property is torn away. Alas, it is his all! 
and what has he more ? This was his God, and now 
it is gone, perhaps forever. It leaves him no good to 
enjoy. The Christian too may lose all his property in 
a twinkling; but then his Father in heaven is infinitely 
rich, and he need not fear lest he come to want. His 



AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED. 459 

great treasure remains untouched by the fires or the 
floods of earth. He can have a thousand angels to 
minister to his wants, if he needs their aid, and his 
Father sees it best to send them. 

Suppose the sinner is bereaved of some dear friend, — 
a parent or a bosom companion, or a child of his strong 
and tender love. The blow comes down upon him 
with unmitigated weight. He has no Saviour, no hope, 
no consolation — no being in the universe able to save, 
to whom he can flee. 

These sorrows are heavy because they are enduring. 
They intermit only for a brief space, and then another 
avalanche rolls over him again, crushing all his fondest 
hopes and spreading desolation all around him. And 
then the thought must flash across his mind, These are 
only the beginning of sorrows. I am bereaved here; — • 
oh, how much more bereaved, when every friend shall 
be torn away! Bereavement makes me wretched now; 
what shall I be hereafter? 

There is another point of most solemn import. The 
wicked man's afflictions, instead of working for him a 
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, will 
only work in his case a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of damnation; for all these afflictions are only 
appliances on the part of God to reclaim the sinner 
from sinning and bring him to Jesus for salvation. If 
he resist them all, they cannot fail to aggravate his 
final doom. Hence the more thorough and searching 
his trials, the greater his guilt, and the more heavy his 
final punishment. Hence we see that the more he suf- 
fers here — supposing him to resist the design of God 



460 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

to reclaim him by these trials, the more must he suffer 
hereafter as a punishment for his deeper guilt. 

The reverse of this, we know, is true of the Chris- 
tian; as, the more he suffers here, the more he enjoys 
hereafter. 

It is most striking to notice here that, while all 
things, joyful or sad, work together for good to the 
Christian, all things, whether prosperous or adverse — 
joyous or afflictive, work together for ill to the sinner. 
The more he enjoys here, the more miserable he must 
be hereafter; and the more he suffers here, the more he 
must suffer hereafter. If there is in this an apparent 
paradox, it is still true, and you will instantly see its 
truth when you come to see the relation of the whole 
course of God's providence here towards the sinner, to 
this sinner's final doom. All God's providences are 
means of trial to the sinner, and if he abuses them all, 
and resists their influence, they cannot fail to work for 
him a deeper damnation. 

Alas, the guilty course and the fearful end of the 
sinner! Instead of being able to say, with the Chris- 
tian, Welcome, afflictions; welcome, pains and trials 
and bereavements; welcome, even the cross itself; — 
he can only say, Woe is me! These heavy afflictions, 
that make me weary of life now, are working for me a 
far more exceeding and eternal weight of damnation ! 
Nothing for me here but bitterness, and a vain pursuit 
of hollow pleasures, — all working for me a more dire 
damnation for my everlasting portion! 



AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED. 46 1 

REMARKS. 

I. If we would understand the Bible, we must at- 
tain a position from which we shall see things as the 
inspired writers saw thme. They estimated all tilings 
in the light of eternity. When they speak of earthly 
things, they compare them with eternity, and deem 
them long or short — valuable or valueless, as they 
are estimated in this scale of comparison. And why 
should they not ? If we are to exist forever, there is 
surely no other rational way of estimating the value or 
whatever shall affect our entire well-being. Our hap- 
piness or misery in the next world is a part of the 
whole sum of our good or ill in existence, as much as 
the portion which falls to us in this world. 

Hence, if earthly scenes and interests are brief and 
but for a moment, compared with eternity, let them be 
called and deemed light and of small account. So the 
sacred writers seemed to regard them. 

Many have fallen into serious errors in consequence 
of not understanding this. When the apostles speak 
of its being only a step to the day of judgment, some 
have supposed their real meaning to be that Christ's 
second advent was really just about to occur. But it 
is by no means certain that this was their real mean- 
ing. Minds so deeply impressed as theirs were with 
the solemn realities of eternity, are wont to view eternal 
scenes as very near at hand. The intervention of earth- 
ly scenes and events between — events in which their 
mind takes no interest — is scarcely thought of. 

Now we need to be in such a state of mind as 



462 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

theirs, in order to understand their language. Then 
we shall estimate all earthly things in the near view of 
the solemn realities of the eternal world. 

2. Afflictions are light or otherwise, very much ac- 
cording to the state of mind in which they are experi- 
enced. In one state, a mere trifle will appear heavy; 
in another state, the same trial will seem scarce worth 
regarding. The mind sustained of God can sustain al- 
most anything God shall lay upon it; but when a man 
has all his own burdens to carry alone, and can scarce- 
ly bear the burden of his own wounded spirit and re- 
bellious, repining heart, how can he bear the superadded 
weight of affliction ? 

3. It is often exceedingly interesting to contemplate 
the afflictions of the righteous. When we see the af- 
flicted soul sustained triumphantly by grace, and con- 
sider also how these light afflictions must educe a far 
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, we see it 
a most blessed thing to be afflicted. Oh it is a joyful 
scene ! Their state of mind is such that they scarcely 
feel the pain of their afflictions. They know them- 
selves to be blessed, and their souls sometimes exult in 
scenes of deep affliction with exceeding joy. They 
have so much of God in their souls, — God takes occa- 
sion by means of the affliction to make such peculiar 
manifestations of his glory and his goodness to their 
soula, — that they may well exult in the precious good of 
being afflicted. 

You may have heard it said of one of the daughters 
of President Edwards, that, while a husband. whom she 
tenderly loved lay a corpse in the house, her joy was- 



AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED. 463 

so great that she sought some secret place to give it 
vent, lest it should be misconstrued by those who could 
not appreciate the abounding consolations of the great 
joy with which God was pleased to fill her soul. Now 
what was this? How shall we account for it? But 
one rational account can be given. The Lord was 
pleased to make this affliction in her case a sort of con- 
ductor, along which the electric fires of his own love 
and presence reached and filled her soul. She became 
so filled with the joys of, the Spirit that she could not 
be sensible to the bitterness of grief. 

Now another woman in a different state of mind 
would have hung over that lifeless body — would have 
bathed it with her bitter tears — would have given way 
to inconsolable grief. Why? Because, in her state of 
mind, the consolations and joys of God are wanting. 

Payson, you may recollect, said, near the close of his 
life, "Since I have given up my will, I have never in a 
single instance been disappointed." You need only be 
in a state in which you have no will but God's — then 
all will be well with you. Form no purpose except on 
this condition, "If the Lord will, I shall do this or that." 
Let a man get into this permanent state of mind, and 
where is he? Where he never can be disappointed. 
However his plans may issue, all seems well to him, 
because he wishes nothing otherwise than God would 
have it, and God's ways can never be frustrated; — as a 
man once said of the weather, when asked what he 
thought the weather would be, "Just such as pleases me." 
But how could he know this? What does this mean? 
"The answer is easy. Said he, "It will be such weather 



464 Afflictions of the righteous 

as pleases God, I know; and whatever pleases God will 
perfectly please me." Thus, beloved, if you are only 
weaned thoroughly from your own wills, and moulded 
into sweet submission to the will of God, everything 
will go just right. However much the course of divine 
Providence may seem to frustrate your plans, and 
threaten mischief to your interests, you can say, "This 
pleases my Heavenly Father, and therefore I know it is 
best, and it shall please me." 

I very distinctly recollect attending a funeral in a 
case where a man had lost a most beloved wife by a 
sudden death. But, oh, there was such a smile on his 
•countenance, a smile so calm, so resigned, so sweet, so 
like .heaven — I never can forget it. Such a counte- 
nance as his ; — it seemed to betoken anything else but 
affliction. Why? His heart was with God. 

4. But while this is all joyful and interesting ; on 
the contrary, all is agonizing when you come to see the 
wicked under affliction. Alas! they have no consola- 
tion. I once witnessed a funeral scene in New York. 
A most ungodly man died, leaving two ungodly daugh- 
ters fatherless. Their mother had died before, and they 
felt themselves thrown upon a blank world, orphans. 
They wept and wailed enough to move a heart of 
stone. Their tears and cries were agonizing. I felt 
unutterable anguish as I saw their forlorn, despairing 
grief. But I could do little else than stand and weep. 
I talked to them of Jesus, but they had no Jesus. This 
name, so dear to the Christian heart, had no charms to 
them. They did not know Him. They had never 
learned to trust Him ; — they had never made Him their 



AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED. 465 

friend. Alas, they had no friend in the universe! Their 
father had gone to hell, and they were following on in 
the same path. Oh, it was enough to tear a man's 
heart all to pieces to witness such a scene ! I could 
not help crying out, Oh, were they only Christians ! Oh, 
if they only had Jesus for their friend ! 

But these are only the beginning of sorrows. These 
are only the first tastings of that bitter cup which to 
all eternity they must drink to its dregs. These are 
only the first drops of that awful, rising, gathering hail- 
storm, about to whelm them in its wide, wasting ruin. 
If you have ever seen the awful tornado, rolling up in 
its mountain masses of cloud and hail from the west, 
roaring, crashing, sweeping along ; — now its first drops 
fall — it is coming, coming — even these first drops thrill 
through the quick pulse and the beating heart of the 
houseless, naked wanderer — ah, how can he bear that 
rushing avalanche of storm ! 

To the sinner in this world — the few drops of afflic- 
tion cut him down; he cannot stand before these few 
small drops; — how can he .stand when God shall make 
bare his awful arm, and clothe it with majesty, to visit 
wrath upon the guilty according to their deeds ? O sin- 
ner, how can thy heart endure, or thy hands be strong, 
in the day when God shall deal with thee? The first 
drops crush you down ; you cannot bear even the first 
small drop, but sink and wail out under even these ; — 
what next? Next comes the solid hail — hear it roar. Oh, 
that crash — as if it would" tear the world in pieces! The 
first drops scattered in this world scald and scathe him 

— ah, surely he never can endure in that dread day 
20* 



466 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

when the storms of Jehovah's wrath shall begin to beat 
forever on his guilty spirit ! 

When I have seen sinners under conviction, gnawing 
their very tongues literally as I have seen it — drawing 
blood, I have cried out in the inward anguish of my 
soul, If this is conviction, what is hell? O my soul, 
WHAT IS HELL? No hope ; — no hope, no end, no es- 
cape ; — oh, if there were only some way of escape — or 
some end, though after myriads of ages had rolled 
away in the agonies of the second death ; — then it 
would not be all utter, hopeless despair. These 
thoughts of final relief might come as the elixir of life 
to bring at least a few drops of comfort ; but no ! hell 
has no hopes for its doomed ones; — it has no balm for 
the wounded spirits of its guilty, self-ruined victims. 
Every thought in every sinner's mind there, is only the 
fire and the gall of hell upon the dark, malign spirits of 
that prison-house of despair ! 

5. Finally, brethren, let me say, it is exceedingly 
useful to us to contemplate this contrast between the 
earthly state of the righteous and of the wicked. Let 
Christians do this often and thoroughly. I have found 
it exceedingly useful to me to do it. It quickens the 
deep sympathies of my heart for my dying fellow-men, 
and calls forth gushing gratitude for the mercies of gos- 
pel salvation. It is sometimes an evil to dwell too 
long and too exclusively upon the Christian's hope and 
the Christian's heaven, and neglect to dwell upon the 
bitter doom of the wicked. Oh, we must not forget 
their awful state ! Our business here is to pull them 
out of those fires. Then let our hearts feel their awful 



AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED. 467 

peril. Let us often follow out this striking heart-affect- 
ing contrast between the righteous and the wicked. If 
ministers would often do this, carrying out this contrast 
in all its great and striking points, oh, how would both 
they and their churches travail in birth for souls, and 
be filled with unutterable emotions of benevolent solic- 
itude for the souls of the perishing ! 

Brethren, do you satisfy yourselves with the dainties 
of the Christian life, and live to eat, rather than to la- 
bor and toil? Do you come up here to this sanctuary 
to regale yourselves with spiritual manna, and give no 
crumbs to those who must starve in the agonies of the 
second death ? Do you lose sight of the sorrows of the 
wicked, and quite forget their case? Do you — can you 
forget their awful afflictions here and hereafter — so 
heavy, so enduring, so fearful ? Oh ! can you let these 
things pass from your minds, and live on as if all were 
well? Beloved, you must 07ie day give account for souls 
— -for souls saved or lost. 



